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Big Pine Key homeowner has gun range in his yard, and it’s totally legal

ALiberalModerate

ALiberalModerate

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BIG PINE KEY -- Near the National Key Deer Refuge in the Lower Keys, on a sleepy street called Mango Lane, retired sheriff’s deputy Huey Gordon checked the waterway behind neighbor Doug Varrieur’s home for boat traffic.“All clear?” asked Varrieur, an author of diet cookbooks and owner of rental properties.
“Yes, sir, you are,” Gordon said.
To which Varrieur replied: “The range is hot.”
He put on earmuffs and, within a few seconds, the peace of the residential neighborhood was replaced with the burst of small-caliber gunfire. Varrieur fired seven shots that traveled 21 feet to a target that had three cans inside a box and a picture of a zombie holding a screaming woman.
“All right, one dead can,” said Varrieur, 57.
It has been a month since the friends first fired their guns in this makeshift shooting area — surrounded by a chain-link fence, a shiny RV and the canal. The shots sent shockwaves through the neighborhood.
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Read more here: BIG PINE KEY: Big Pine Key homeowner has gun range in his yard, and it’s totally legal - Florida Keys - MiamiHerald.com

I normally am on the side of gun rights, but this is ridiculous. It's a residential area, aside from the obvious safety issues, what about local noise ordinances?
 
The Neighbourhood Asshole of the Year Award goes to...

This has less to do with gun rights more about being a disturbance.
 
Yeah can you imagine having this jackass living near you. I bet that state legislature does nothing about it though.
 
If silencers/noise suppressors weren't illegal this would be easily solved - rather than outlawing them and then whining about how much noise firearms make.
 
One ricochet in anyone's direction and I think returning fire would be appropriate.
 
joko104 said:
If silencers/noise suppressors weren't illegal this would be easily solved - rather than outlawing them and then whining about how much noise firearms make.
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It still would not make it safe. If you want to fire guns out your backdoor, then fine, but buy a home in the country. We never even went to a firing range when I was growing up because we always lived in rural areas. Living in the city or suburbs is a different story though.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
It still would not make it safe. If you want to fire guns out your backdoor, then fine, but buy a home in the country. We never even went to a firing range when I was growing up because we always lived in rural areas. Living in the city or suburbs is a different story though.
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It would be relatively easy to make the range safe but as long as it's outdoors noise will be the issue.
 
Plenty of people in NH have them. Miraculously, nothing happens.

In other news, tomorrow is Tuesday, January 28th.
 
MichaelJR said:
Plenty of people in NH have them. Miraculously, nothing happens.

In other news, tomorrow is Tuesday, January 28th.
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Are you telling me that people in town, not out in the country, but in a subdivision in NH commonly have a shooting range in their backyard? A barking dog will drive you crazy, I can't imagine having some dude 3 houses down regularly shooting.
 
Wouldnt last long in my neghiborhood. We are all armed and most of us have bad attitudes. I notice no one is really defending the guy, probably really a nonissue.
SouthernDemocrat said:
Are you telling me that people in town, not out in the country, but in a subdivision in NH commonly have a shooting range in their backyard? A barking dog will drive you crazy, I can't imagine having some dude 3 houses down regularly shooting.
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SouthernDemocrat said:
Yeah can you imagine having this jackass living near you. I bet that state legislature does nothing about it though.
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Hell yeah I can imagine it! I'd want to join him, he's already set it up, I'm assuming he set up a safety berm and it would save me a long trip to the public range or shorter but at a lane cost to the private one. The one thing I don't like about city life is not being able to shoot more because of safety considerations.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Are you telling me that people in town, not out in the country, but in a subdivision in NH commonly have a shooting range in their backyard? A barking dog will drive you crazy, I can't imagine having some dude 3 houses down regularly shooting.
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Yeah. Not uncommon. Gun ownership up there is about 75%. Open carry is commonplace. I have a house on Lake Winnipesaukee up there. Quite a few tourists from MA, and I'd say about 1/4 of gun owners up there open carry, including myself when I'm there. Sometimes they walk by, sometimes they gasp, occasionally they call the police. That's the fun part. The cops rarely come down. I overheard it once, woman called on me, had her speaker phone on. She's flipping out, he says calm down, is he brandishing the gun? Is it holstered? Woman screams yes yes come down quick. Cop says "Call me when he's breaking a law" and proceeded to hang up on her. The look on her face was priceless.

NH enjoys their freedom, thus, "Live free or die" on every single license plate in the state.
 
MichaelJR said:
Yeah. Not uncommon. Gun ownership up there is about 75%. Open carry is commonplace. I have a house on Lake Winnipesaukee up there. Quite a few tourists from MA, and I'd say about 1/4 of gun owners up there open carry, including myself when I'm there. Sometimes they walk by, sometimes they gasp, occasionally they call the police. That's the fun part. The cops rarely come down. I overheard it once, woman called on me, had her speaker phone on. She's flipping out, he says calm down, is he brandishing the gun? Is it holstered? Woman screams yes yes come down quick. Cop says "Call me when he's breaking a law" and proceeded to hang up on her. The look on her face was priceless.

NH enjoys their freedom, thus, "Live free or die" on every single license plate in the state.
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I am not talking about open carry though. This is about shooting off your gun as target practice in your yard in the middle of town. I am from Arkansas originally, it is easily one of the most heavily armed states in the nation. However, even there people don't build a makeshift firing range in their backyard in the middle of a subdivision.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
I am not talking about open carry though. This is about shooting off your gun as target practice in your yard in the middle of town. I am from Arkansas originally, it is easily one of the most heavily armed states in the nation. However, even there people don't build a makeshift firing range in their backyard in the middle of a subdivision.
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Yeah it's not uncommon in NH. Usually people will just post signs on their property warning that live fire may be going on. Another reason people don't wander onto other people's property in NH. Sort of an exercise in futility. Than again, might be darwin knocking. Win win?
 
The OP implies it is a "shooting range" but it seems more like one guy and his buddies rather than a for-profit enterprise.

If it is legal to "discharge a firearm in the city limits" then just be glad he isn't your neighbor. You won't get away with it in my city.
 
MichaelJR said:
Yeah it's not uncommon in NH. Usually people will just post signs on their property warning that live fire may be going on. Another reason people don't wander onto other people's property in NH. Sort of an exercise in futility. Than again, might be darwin knocking. Win win?
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Well we used to sight in our rifles right off the back door of the house when I was a kid, but we lived on land in rural Arkansas. I just don't think its cool to be shooting your gun in the middle of town. Aside from the safety issues with houses so close together, the noise would be ridiculous for your neighbors.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Well we used to sight in our rifles right off the back door of the house when I was a kid, but we lived on land in rural Arkansas. I just don't think its cool to be shooting your gun in the middle of town. Aside from the safety issues with houses so close together, the noise would be ridiculous for your neighbors.
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That is one thing, the plots of land in NH are typically at least an acre, and going further north you're talking some BIG plots of land. Most people build a good backstop as well. People are generally smart and cautious.
 
joko104 said:
If silencers/noise suppressors weren't illegal this would be easily solved - rather than outlawing them and then whining about how much noise firearms make.
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Silenced or suppressed weapons are still very loud, and would you as a shooter always shoot with a silencer? Unless you're going to always use that silencer even when you carry the weapon around, which would make concealed carry more difficult and more uncomfortable, there's going to be times where you want to practice without the silencer.
 
MichaelJR said:
That is one thing, the plots of land in NH are typically at least an acre, and going further north you're talking some BIG plots of land. Most people build a good backstop as well. People are generally smart and cautious.
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Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that. However, when your property is 50 feet wide in a high density area, that is a different story entirely.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with that. However, when your property is 50 feet wide in a high density area, that is a different story entirely.
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There are some creative folks that have made some nice indoor setups.
 
From my (limited) experience, the sound does drop off pretty quickly. That said, I wouldn't want to be that guy's neighbor.. Unless he let me come over and shoot.

Even a Mosin-Nagant (firing a cartridge roughly equivalent to a .308, for the less informed) goes from absolutely deafening within a few feet to "only" loud enough to give you a bit of a jolt if you aren't prepared for it in the yard, on the opposite side of your average two story house.
That said, I fired a shot out of a Mosin without ear protection once, and now I have tinnitus. Don't do that.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Are you telling me that people in town, not out in the country, but in a subdivision in NH commonly have a shooting range in their backyard? A barking dog will drive you crazy, I can't imagine having some dude 3 houses down regularly shooting.
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I was sleeping in on a Saturday off not long ago when I awoke to the BOOM of some large-caliber rifle being fired rather close by. I was going to go back to sleep (gunshots around here are common and typically of no consequence) when it was followed by three more unusually loud BOOMs, and I concluded the persons in question must be shooting on my property.

I went to investigate.

Turns out they were not on my property, but on my neighbor's back section... which is about 100' from my house. Not sure what they were shooting but it was much louder than anything you usually hear around this area. I observed from a spot behind some bushes and considered whether to say something, but decided not to. They were shooting in a safe direction; it was mid-morning; they were on someone else's property.

Ultimately, big meh.


Granted, we're in a more-or-less rural area... but it depends on what you're used to I suppose.
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Well we used to sight in our rifles right off the back door of the house when I was a kid, but we lived on land in rural Arkansas. I just don't think its cool to be shooting your gun in the middle of town. Aside from the safety issues with houses so close together, the noise would be ridiculous for your neighbors.
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Noise is fine during the day.

SouthernDemocrat said:
I am not talking about open carry though. This is about shooting off your gun as target practice in your yard in the middle of town. I am from Arkansas originally, it is easily one of the most heavily armed states in the nation. However, even there people don't build a makeshift firing range in their backyard in the middle of a subdivision.
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Is it legal, and are there firing ranges there already?

SouthernDemocrat said:
Are you telling me that people in town, not out in the country, but in a subdivision in NH commonly have a shooting range in their backyard? A barking dog will drive you crazy, I can't imagine having some dude 3 houses down regularly shooting.
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You can make noise during the day.

SouthernDemocrat said:
It still would not make it safe. If you want to fire guns out your backdoor, then fine, but buy a home in the country. We never even went to a firing range when I was growing up because we always lived in rural areas. Living in the city or suburbs is a different story though.
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What do you mean safe? How is it unsafe to fire bullets on his range?

SouthernDemocrat said:
Yeah can you imagine having this jackass living near you. I bet that state legislature does nothing about it though.
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Nobody wants to live in Florida.

SouthernDemocrat said:
Read more here: BIG PINE KEY: Big Pine Key homeowner has gun range in his yard, and it’s totally legal - Florida Keys - MiamiHerald.com

I normally am on the side of gun rights, but this is ridiculous. It's a residential area, aside from the obvious safety issues, what about local noise ordinances?
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You cannot make noise during the day?
 
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