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10/27/2007 8:37 PM
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#1
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Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 386
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RE: Dept. barred from neighboring agency's range.
I have heard of it happening. Both for similar reasons and for other things. One of the points to remember is that if I have a range, you have to obey my rules or I do not have to allow you to use it. My rules might include no firing past a certain time due to the proximity of houses where people sleep, or for other political reasons.
In my area, one department is barred from several of the ranges because someone managed to start a grass fire at one city's range. No one has figured out exactly how they started the fire (or admitting to it at least).
Another city lost use of its range when someone bought the land behind it and built a house there. He was afraid that the rounds would somehow go over the 20 foot tall berm and hit the house 1/2 mile downrange. He complained to the city council and they stopped the department from shooting there again.
Ranges close and get weird rules from time to time. Disobey the rules and you or your department get banned.
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10/29/2007 8:42 PM
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#2
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 22
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RE: Dept. barred from neighboring agency's range.
I understand that ranges have rules and have no problem with that. My main point was that this range had a rule against ANY night firing and wondering how this agency complies with the Court mandated firearms training which includes night qualification? I suppose the agency could use someone else's range for their night fire, but I rather doubt it considering the agency. Another thing is that, according to the firearms instructor who told me about it, the range officer of the range in question was informed that they were planning to conduct night fire training and qualification and gave them a key. If there was some rule banning night firing, shouldn't the range officer have forbid the other agency from using it for that purpose?
The range I still use (on my off time) that belongs to a former employing agency had a church build less that 1/4 mile from the range and when asked about it assured the chief and range officer that it wouldn't bother them. As far as I know it didn't until i stopped by one Sunday morning while I was working for the next town over and started firing a .308 and .223. They called the range officer and said that they hadn't thought the range would bother them while they weren't having services, and as long as pistols were being fired they hadn't been. They said that the rifle fire WAS disturbing them. The rule there is no firing on the range 30 minutes before or during services until 30 minutes after. I think that was a fair and equitable solution for everyone involved.
IMHO, the guy who bought the property and built a house behind the range would have been SOL. I worked for one city that had a privately owned range, or rather a number of ranges on the same property including seperate ranges for rifle, pistol, shotgun, black powder and automatic weapons. Some developer bought property backing the range and built a bunch of expensive houses on it. Within a week after the first house had been sold and moved into the new home owners were calling to report gunfire. They said it sounded like WWIII had started. I could see why since the range was sponsoring an MG shoot that weekend. The home owners were none to happy and even sued in an attempt to have the range shut down. The court ruled in the range owners' favor stating that the home owners should have done better research before buying the house if they had a problem being near a firing range. The best part about that range was that we had a key and were welcomed to use it anytime. I'd shoot there almost every shift I worked if only to test out a new load. Ahhh, those were the days.
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1/24/2008 8:51 PM
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#3
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 5
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RE: Dept. barred from neighboring agency's range.
I ran into that restriction with a law enforcement range operated by another agency my agency uses quite a bit about three years ago. Now we help the local economy and do most of our low-light training at a law enforcement friendly indoor range.
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4/17/2008 4:11 PM
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#4
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Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 511
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RE: Dept. barred from neighboring agency's range.
If you have a military base near by that has a range, that might be an option for night shooting. The Long Beach Police Department out here in California caved in when the NIMBY's cried that bullets were landing on the roofs of their houses. They couldn't prove it, and despite the fact that the gangs in Hawaiian Gardens regularly shot up the hood meant nothing. Anyhooooo, they closed the public range, which generated money for the city, and left the combat range open for police. That sucks, as I loved to shoot both sides of that range.
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7/22/2008 11:09 AM
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#5
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1
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RE: Dept. barred from neighboring agency's range.
Our department was basically kicked out of one of the area ranges all together. The Range told us we had too many officers shooting and as such, the neighbors were filing complaints about the prolonged noise. I would hate to see what they would say if we even tried to do a night or low light shoot. The most humerous part is they still allow some local agencies to train at the range but will not allow the S.O. (the department with jurisdiction in the area) to train. Oh well, just find it interesting that a shooting range would limit training to those who protect and serve their neighborhoods!
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2/21/2009 8:24 PM
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#6
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 1
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RE: Dept. barred from neighboring agency's range.
I did hear about a metro agency SWAT team being told not to use a specific range that the department acquired after an annexation. The legend goes that the SWAT team was conducting training with their select fire weapons in the evening, while just down the road was a high school football game.
Seems that the noise bothered some of the parents.
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