Kitsap Rifle Club members speak out against proposed ordinance
Rachel Anne Seymour
11:45 AM, Jul 31, 2014
SILVERDALE
— More than 50 people offered almost three hours of testimony at a
public hearing for Kitsap County’s proposed gun range ordinance
Wednesday afternoon.
Most
spoke against the ordinance, arguing that it is unnecessary, would not
increase safety and would force clubs to close. Nearly all of the people
who spoke against the ordinance were representatives or members of the
Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club.
Marcus
Carter, KRRC executive director, was a member of the committee assigned
to write the ordinance. In a 4-1 vote, the committee voted to present
its ordinance to the county commissioners in April. Carter voted against
it.
The
committee also included representatives from Poulsbo Sportsman Club and
Bremerton Trap and Skeet, one resident of each county commissioner
district, and representatives of county government.
The
proposed ordinance would require gun ranges to apply for five-year
operating permits with the county. The initial application requires a
safety plan, which must be evaluated by a National Rifle Association
adviser, and an emergency
plan.
Ranges also will be required to submit facility layouts and designs of shooting configurations.
For
noise control, the ordinance states “a shooting facility may implement
any or all of the following noise controls:” Limiting hours; erecting
baffles to reduce or redirect noise; planting trees or foliage to absorb
noise; installing noise barriers or insulation; using firearm
silencers; or other
engineering controls as deemed feasible.
KRRC
member Charles Ely asked the commissioners, “why have you deemed it
necessary to require an operation permit and why do you somehow think it
contributes to public safety?”
Ely
argued that the purpose ordinance was not safety, but to curtail the
activities of KRRC, which has been in a legal battle with the county
since September 2010.
Several members of Poulsbo Sportsman Club spoke at the hearing, stating they support the ordinance.
Poulsbo
Sportsman Club Vice President Jim Reynolds told the commissioners “the
committee proposal is the fairest approach that meets the broadest needs
of the community.”
Reynolds said the requirements are “not excessively burdensome or unreasonable.”
Poulsbo
Sportsman Club President Doug O’Connor, who noted he also is a member
of KRRC, said: “There is nothing intended in this ordinance that would
cause anything to shut down a club.”
Tom Hamilton, Bremerton Trap and Skeet Club president, said he
wanted the commissioners to be aware that too much regulation would end
up costing the nonprofit clubs too much. He pointed out that the
commissioners also have the option of doing nothing with the ordinance.
Neighbors
of KRRC spoke out in favor of the ordinance or some other form of gun
range regulation, saying that they believe bullets have left the club’s
range.
KRRC members denied that rounds have left their facility.
The
proposed ordinance has not yet been placed on an agenda for a county
commissioners meeting, a requirement before it can be voted on.
COMMENTS:
BelfairHerb
By
passing this ordinance you will hurt the gun clubs and cause more of
their current members to not shoot there but they will still shoot. They
will go on adjacent DNR lands in both Kitsap and Mason County and do
their target shooting there instead. DNR's rules are simple, you must
shoot into an earthen embankment, not on or across roads or trails, you
can only use commercially manufactured targets and cannot shoot during
hours of darkness. So go ahead and pass this ordnance and then enjoy
living with these much less restrictive rules. DNR would love to get all
target shooters to shoot at one of the commercial ranges since it is
much safer!
I
urge your county commissioners to think twice before passing this or a
similar ordnance since you might just create a bigger problem for
yourself. BTW, I am NOT a member of any gun club, I target shoot on DNR
lands.....
johnjgoss#503415
A
new permit every five years insures that county will receive a new
funding source, and can again attack the gun ranges every five years to
test the waters of gun control and of course necessarily increase cost
of permits
each five years as cost of doing business.
HowParanoid
"Neighbors
of KRRC spoke out in favor of the ordinance or some other form of gun
range regulation, saying that they believe bullets have left the club’s
range."
One
person spoke about how a bullet was shot originating at KRRC, glanced
off a rock, deflected into the air, then came down hitting his house.
Everything here is speculation and
assumptions.
1. The person never had a bullet to support the fact this is was the cause.
2. Even if he could produce the bullet, how is it he would know it glanced off a rock.
3.
With all the open land between KRRC and the house, it is known that
people will go out into this open area to target practice. How can he
say for sure, if there was a bullet, that it actually came from KRRC.
He's probably raising unicorns in the backyard
too!
dardena
Looking
at Google Earth maps...it looks like the first home inline with the
high power rifle range is well over a mile away, up hill, through
heavily wooded terrain.
Noise
should not be an issue, since state law exempts gun ranges from noise
nuisance lawsuits. So that leaves safety. Is the "safety" concern with
the homeowners to the left, right or behind the gun range, because I
just don't see any "in front" of
the firing line.
Terry
NoFluff
Speaking
of noise-- How is it that the expensive sound experts, hired by the
County (and paid for, of course, by you and I) ,despite their best
efforts, could not provide any "conclusive" results to support the
claims of CK Safe and Quiet about excessive noise reaching their
properties. If there is no excessive or nuisance noise that can be
measured at the "affected" locations, then what is
to be gained from mandating expensive measures to contain sounds at the
shooting ranges, and how would any "reduction" of the nuisance sounds
be measured when they were not there in the first place?
crazy_politics
Shame
on the other gun clubs. Are they just reacting to Marcus Carter's
opposition to the ordinance by supporting it? This is the time when the
clubs should be standing together, shoulder to shoulder, because what
happens to one WILL happen to all. That's a fact, Jack...
