Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Can a shooting range expand?

Apparently in Idaho established ranges can expand and cities and counties have no say in the matter. Even if state law changes, the ranges are grandfathered in. I hadn't heard about this law before and have no idea how long it's been in affect.
The range is about 1 air mile from town. I've never been there and have no idea which direction the lead flies but there are farms within 1/4 mile in any direction.


HAGERMAN — “My sister told me I have a beautiful yard. Too bad there’s a war zone next door.”

The “war zone” Hagerman City Councilman Jay Houser describes is Shaw Shooting School, a commercial shooting range where Navy Seals and Special Ops train.

The shooting school doesn’t operate out in the desert — it operates within the gun range’s line of fire of Hagerman’s schools, four churches, the city park, the city hall and 100 or so residences.

“Our town needs to be a safe place,” Houser said Monday.

More than 200 of his neighbors agree.

A group called Citizens4Hagerman has appealed an earlier decision by the county Planning and Zoning Commission that allowed the Shaws — 27-year-old Houston Shaw, two-time Production Steel Challenge National Speed Shooting champion, and his father, John Shaw, World Speed Shooting champion in pistol and shotgun and nine-time Gold Medal winner in three World Championships — to expand the facility. Houston Shaw has not returned calls from the Times-News.

“About 7,200 rounds of ammo are discharged daily from 5.56- and .223-caliber arms that have a range of up to two miles,” Hagerman resident Kathy McKenzie wrote to the Times-News. “The noise echoing off the canyon walls, seven days a week, seven months a year, with no restrictions, remind us again that despite safety, location and noise issues to the citizens of Hagerman, the Gooding P&Z have given this special-use permit carte blanche.”

The City Council also appealed the P&Z’s decision.

Houser sounded like he’d been kicked in the gut when the Times-News contacted him about the appeal hearing scheduled for Monday.

He had just been notified that the county had canceled the hearing because a letter from the Shaws’ attorney revealed a state statute that preempts counties and cities from having any jurisdiction over established shooting ranges.

“I’ve never seen a law like this that takes the voices away from the people,” Gooding County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Pember said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Shaws have withdrawn their application, because, according to the code, they don’t need the county’s permission to expand.

“The County has no jurisdiction to regulate them, thus any action taken by the County prior to the withdrawal would be null and void, as would any action the County would take after the withdrawal,” Pember stated in the memo to the commissioners.

Apparently the city has no recourse, even if the state Legislature were to change the law. The shooting range would be grandfathered in from any change in the law.

Pember has sent the issue to the Idaho Attorney General’s office for review, to see if he had interpreted the code correctly.

An attorney for the Idaho Association of Counties has independently looked at the Sport Shooting Range Act and came the same conclusion, Pember wrote in the memo.

“He was as flabbergasted as we are that the legislature would take the voices away from the people regarding local land use planning.”

5.56 only has a range of 2 miles.

What a bunch of dumbazzes...liberal bastids and such...

Kathy wouldn't like to live next to us in our competition years either I don't think.... screw her.

Noise can be an issue.

I wonder if the range was there before the houses, etc.

DF

Noise is an issue, but then I hear 2 ranges that are over 5 miles away. Its not a big thing. You get used to the noise. Like trucks, trains etc...

The world is not going to be quiet. Just my take on it.

Id bet the range pre-dated the houses if I'd have to bet.

I will never understand people that buy a house close to a gun range, railroad tracks,air port or freeway and then complain about noise.

“He was as flabbergasted as we are that the legislature would take the voices away from the people regarding local land use planning.”

Seems to me the voice of the Shaw's was not taken away.

The RR ones call me at city hall all the time. My reply has been gentle, BUT simple, you did not see the rails right there in front of your house?

But they run at night... um yes, even the roads are open all night....

The range is less than 6 years old, long predated by the houses and farms, some of which are pushing 100 years. It sits about 1/2 between the town and the river which is a popular boating area. Both are within 1 mile of the range.

So they allowed it to happen in the first place.......Smart planning.

In Jacksonville, the anti everythings managed to get Cecil Field, the Navy's Master Jet base closed down due to noise, and it was there LONG before any houses.

Expand? Just expanded mine to 400 yards. Can't see that far, but there always is hope.

So the outright political attacks waged against legally established ranges got so out of hand that a law was created to protect them. It removed power from the those using the local ordinances to execute a political agenda. And now the next class of abusers is concerned about what's "fair". Sounds about right. Like affirmative action for gun clubs.

I couldn't agree more..

Google Earth shows the Shaw Range to be just over a mile to Hagerman as the crow flies, and right next to the Snake River

The way I read the statute is that if it is in the county then it is legal. Perhaps those folks who are complaining should have spoke up at the hearing for the gun range, their best option would be to let their concerns be known to the owner of the range and perhaps he would be willing to set hours or certain days for being open.

From the Idaho Statutes

TITLE 18
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
CHAPTER 33
FIREARMS, EXPLOSIVES AND OTHER DEADLY WEAPONS
18-3302J. PREEMPTION OF FIREARMS REGULATION. (1) The legislature finds that uniform laws regulating firearms are necessary to protect the individual citizen’s right to bear arms guaranteed by amendment 2 of the United States Constitution and section 11, article I of the constitution of the state of Idaho. It is the legislature’s intent to wholly occupy the field of firearms regulation within this state.
(2) Except as expressly authorized by state statute, no county, city, agency, board or any other political subdivision of this state may adopt or enforce any law, rule, regulation, or ordinance which regulates in any manner the sale, acquisition, transfer, ownership, possession, transportation, carrying or storage of firearms or any element relating to firearms and components thereof, including ammunition.
(3) A county may adopt ordinances to regulate, restrict or prohibit the discharge of firearms within its boundaries. Ordinances adopted under this subsection may not apply to or affect:
(a) A person discharging a firearm in the lawful defense of person or persons or property;
(b) A person discharging a firearm in the course of lawful hunting;
(c) A landowner and guests of the landowner discharging a firearm, when the discharge will not endanger persons or property;
(d) A person lawfully discharging a firearm on a sport shooting range as defined in section 55-2604, Idaho Code; or
(e) A person discharging a firearm in the course of target shooting on public land if the discharge will not endanger persons or property.
(4) A city may adopt ordinances to regulate, restrict or prohibit the discharge of firearms within its boundaries. Ordinances adopted under this subsection may not apply to or affect:
(a) A person discharging a firearm in the lawful defense of person or persons or property; or
(b) A person lawfully discharging a firearm on a sport shooting range as defined in section 55-2604, Idaho Code.
(5) This section shall not be construed to affect:
(a) The authority of the department of fish and game to make rules or regulations concerning the management of any wildlife of this state, as set forth in section 36-104, Idaho Code; and
(b) The authority of counties and cities to regulate the location and construction of sport shooting ranges, subject to the limitations contained in chapter 26, title 55, Idaho Code.
(6) The provisions of this section are hereby declared to be severable. And if any provision is declared invalid for any reason, such declaration shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this section.
History:
[18-3302J, added 2008, ch. 304, sec. 2, p. 845; am. 2014, ch. 73, sec. 3, p. 189.]

I don't believe it's possible to be safer.

To hell with Obamaphones....what this country needs is free suppressors.

I like gun noise

It looks like on google earth that their ranges are generally oriented towards the river. None appear to be directly oriented towards any habitation and there is quite a bit of space between the range and the houses. I'm sure they can hear the gunfire from the houses, but there isn't any danger from projectiles unless someone has a negligent discharge in the opposite direction from the targets. The noise should also be well below any ordinance levels.
I guess my response to the "neighbors" is "Sorry folks, but you're just going to have to deal with it".

Good argument for making suppressors legal, that is without all of the excessive paperwork and six to ten months of delay.

I can't imagine any folks that are more schooled in safe gun handling and not shooting over berms than Seals and Spec Ops folks.