My take is they are trying to avopid a situation like this, Make note of the bold type:
Metacon Wins Preliminary Rounds in Federal and State
Courts
October 20, 2005
In two recent court victories, both the U.S. District Court in Connecticut and the Connecticut Superior Court
declined to impose what would have been burdensome measures upon the Metacon Gun Club in the operation of its
outdoor shooting range. The measures that the range opponents sought to impose on Metacon in the pending litigation
included: forcing the club to manage the site as if it were a hazardous waste generator subject to the regulatory
requirements of the federal hazardous waste regulations; forcing Metacon to fully enclose its outdoor range, thus
turning it into an enormous indoor range, and; forcing Metacon to extensively investigate and remediate any pollutants
even though the range is still operating. All of the measures requested by the range opponents were rejected by the
courts.
First, Judge Arterton of the U.S. District Court in New Haven made clear that operating ranges are not required to
manage spent ammunition as hazardous waste under the federal hazardous waste regulations. The court held that firing
a bullet at a target is not the abandonment of a hazardous material or the generation of a hazardous waste. The court
made clear that spent ammunition at operating outdoor shooting ranges does not need to be managed under the
complex and burdensome federal hazardous waste regulations. This is a significant ruling for sportsmen and ranges
around the country.
Next, Judge Sheedy, of the Connecticut Superior Court’s Complex Litigation Docket in Waterbury, held that it
is inappropriate to order either the enclosure of the Metacon range or remediation of the operating range as requested
by the range opponents.
The range opponents have raised an array of alleged issues in their two state lawsuits,
including: safety, noise, zoning, property devaluation, and the environment. In the hearing on their request for
preliminary injunctive relief, however, they presented evidence only of alleged harm to the environment. The court
held that the range opponents failed to establish a substantial probability of environmental harm from Metacon’s
outdoor range.
While these two legal victories are significant, Metacon's legal battle has just begun. These victories relate to
preliminary legal questions raised by the range opponents, only. They do not resolve the ultimate factual or legal
questions that are before the federal and state courts in the three lawsuits now pending.
In the coming months, the range opponents’ lawsuits will raise important questions under Connecticut’s Range
Protection Act, ultimately testing, for the first time, the protections afforded to ranges by that statute. How the court
chooses to interpret the Range Protection Act will affect every outdoor range in Connecticut. The federal court,
on the other hand, will have to determine whether individuals shooting into a berm are point sources requiring federal
discharge permits under the Clean Water Act. The resolution of this issue under the Clean Water Act, as well as
the outstanding hazardous waste issues in the pending litigation, will affect outdoor ranges nationwide.
To date, Metacon has been fighting this battle alone with little outside support. Special assessments on members
have been required to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Metacon's legal defense. The NRA Civil Rights
Defense Fund has also provided critical financial support. But all of this is not enough for the protracted legal battle
being waged against Metacon.
Your support for Metacon's legal defense will help defend all outdoor shooting ranges in Connecticut and
across the Nation for years to come.
Metacon’s future is your future.
Find out how you can support Metacon by visiting
http://www.metacongunclub.com
or contacting: Michael Palmer, Treasurer at (860)658-0061.
I would rather shoot next to a camo wannabe the a gang banger wannabe any ole day
