Drizzt
Member
City may curb gun club operations
Kris Sherman; The News Tribune
If Gig Harbor enacts legislation to regulate the operation of a 52-year-old gun club in the city, the issue surely will wind up in court, said Dan Koch, past president of the Gig Harbor Sportsman's club.
"I get kind of nervous when I see an ordinance that's going to put a shooting club out of business," gun club member David Gordon told City Council members Monday night, pointing out that there already are laws "against dropping rounds on your neighbors."
But residents of the neighboring Avalon Woods housing tract think it's time the city policed the facility at 9721 Burnham Drive to cut down on noise and the possibility of a grievous accident.
About 600 members use the range for rifle and pistol shooting, as well as shotgun trap shooting, Koch said.
The issue flared in the summer of 2001 after a 12-gauge shotgun slug whizzed past the head of Avalon Woods resident Jim Good and slammed into his house while he was out watering his plants.
Good wasn't injured, but the incident was a sort of call to arms for Avalon Woods residents, long simmering over the noise coming from the abutting gun club.
A lengthy investigation by Gig Harbor police and State Patrol investigators failed to determine the slug's origin.
After months of meetings with gun club and citizen representatives, the Gig Harbor City Council is on the verge of enacting an ordinance to regulate operations at the range.
The gun club, which lay for years in unincorporated Pierce County until it was annexed to the city in 1997, never has been regulated by any authority other than state law, members say.
Following some changes approved by the council Monday night, the ordinance now under consideration would restrict gun club hours to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. It also would have the gun club closed on Saturdays and open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays, with the exception of a few special shooting weekends each year.
"They haven't taken it upon themselves to do anything about the noise. The hours of operation does," Avalon Woods resident Mark Schaefer told the council.
Council members will continue to study the proposal between now and Jan. 27, when the issue will come back to them for more discussion. It likely won't receive a final vote for several weeks.
http://www.tribnet.com/news/crime_safety/story/2464287p-2511929c.html
....and when we get done with this one, let's move next to the airport, then complain about the noise there.....
Kris Sherman; The News Tribune
If Gig Harbor enacts legislation to regulate the operation of a 52-year-old gun club in the city, the issue surely will wind up in court, said Dan Koch, past president of the Gig Harbor Sportsman's club.
"I get kind of nervous when I see an ordinance that's going to put a shooting club out of business," gun club member David Gordon told City Council members Monday night, pointing out that there already are laws "against dropping rounds on your neighbors."
But residents of the neighboring Avalon Woods housing tract think it's time the city policed the facility at 9721 Burnham Drive to cut down on noise and the possibility of a grievous accident.
About 600 members use the range for rifle and pistol shooting, as well as shotgun trap shooting, Koch said.
The issue flared in the summer of 2001 after a 12-gauge shotgun slug whizzed past the head of Avalon Woods resident Jim Good and slammed into his house while he was out watering his plants.
Good wasn't injured, but the incident was a sort of call to arms for Avalon Woods residents, long simmering over the noise coming from the abutting gun club.
A lengthy investigation by Gig Harbor police and State Patrol investigators failed to determine the slug's origin.
After months of meetings with gun club and citizen representatives, the Gig Harbor City Council is on the verge of enacting an ordinance to regulate operations at the range.
The gun club, which lay for years in unincorporated Pierce County until it was annexed to the city in 1997, never has been regulated by any authority other than state law, members say.
Following some changes approved by the council Monday night, the ordinance now under consideration would restrict gun club hours to 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. It also would have the gun club closed on Saturdays and open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays, with the exception of a few special shooting weekends each year.
"They haven't taken it upon themselves to do anything about the noise. The hours of operation does," Avalon Woods resident Mark Schaefer told the council.
Council members will continue to study the proposal between now and Jan. 27, when the issue will come back to them for more discussion. It likely won't receive a final vote for several weeks.
http://www.tribnet.com/news/crime_safety/story/2464287p-2511929c.html
....and when we get done with this one, let's move next to the airport, then complain about the noise there.....
