Range Complaints
Dealing with people that don't like your shooting range.
Despite fearmongering, shooting is a very safe activity. A video overview of how safe shooting and hunting are:
Unfortunately, because of fearmongering, some people unfamiliar with marksmanship and gun ownership wrongly perceive shooting as dangerous. A few of them will even endeavor to shut down ranges. Here are two examples I experienced.
Incident One
A range I belonged to had a new neighbor who wanted to shut us down. Rather than just talk to us about his concerns, he petitioned the county board to force our range, which had been in continuous safe operation for decades before he moved in, to close.
The commissioner informed him that state statutes forbade closing already-existing zoned ranges unless there were demonstrated safety infractions from said range. Undeterred and oblivious that those statutes were passed with his particular asshattery in mind, he later claimed our range was unsafe.
In his second attempt, he called the county sheriff to report our “unsafe shooting” and to provide “proof” that bullets from the range were impacting in his front yard. Upon responding to the complaint, the sheriff found scattered live rounds in the grass - entire cartridges still shiny as if dumped from the box they were recently purchased. The homeowner claimed, “Those bullets flew in from the range because it isn’t safe.” We learned of this because the sheriff told us about it when he was at our range to shoot a match we were hosting.
Incident Two
The second incident was less fortunate but ended up with a happy ending. When I lived in Texas, a local range was shut down due to complaints from a golf course over a mile away, a wrong and arguably illegal decision.
Wrong: The claim was that golfers on what was then a municipal golf course heard “bullets cracking and whizzing,” and they blamed it on gunfire from a local range. However, that local range was on the other side of a lake, over a mile from the golf course. Any “cracking” of bullets can only happen if they’re still supersonic as they pass by due to breaking the sound barrier. While it’s technically possible, outside of ELR (Extreme Long Range) competition, almost no rifle rounds will still be supersonic over a mile away. This also assumes bullets were routinely missing the range’s backstop and flying over the lake. Investigation by the local police found no evidence that any bullets originated from the range. There were suspicions but no evidence that shots could have been fired by someone from the wooded areas surrounding the golf course.
Illegal: The golf course filing the complaint was a city-funded entity at the time and not in a legal position to take the actions it did.
A letter I sent to the judge:
Your decision concerning the A Place To Shoot gun range is suspect and needs to be reconsidered.
The Municipal Golf Association – San Antonio (MGA-SA) is funded by the city and has board members appointed by the city. By your decision, this city-funded organization is now conveniently not associated with the city as it suits them in this matter. If this is the case, and MGA-SA wishes to no longer be an entity of the city, all city funding for them should immediately cease and they be ordered to pay back all received funds with interest. Marksmanship competition is the only sport required by Federal Law (the National Matches are conducted in accordance with Title 36, U. S. Code, § 40725-40727) and any government funding for a sport should instead be directed there.
Our Police Chief has stated an in-depth investigation could not determine the bullet’s origin and that there was no way to tell if it came from the range. As a small arms instructor and shooting team member with the US Army I know the chances of any claimed errant bullets originating from that range is infinitesimal.
We have a city-funded organization illegally suing a shooting range over an incident that likely wasn’t the fault of the range. I respectfully request that you reconsider your decision.
This was ignored, and the range was shut down. The good news is that it was only temporary, and they have since reopened and remain so to this day.