You are absolutely correct that many of these folks who say they would be comfortable living at the end ( literally 200 feet is what the County measured the distance is from the end of his berm to me,) BTW I am the crazy cat lady ( who owns no cats btw) who the bleach & botox has settled in who apparently according to some but hey I love a good laugh too ) all good I find those who like to pick apart others usually have their own demons they're battling...Although my husband was staring down because he is a fire/medic who just came off a 24 hour shift and saved 2 lives in those 24 hours so he was a little tired that morning.
I am actually a huge 2nd amendment supporter and have quite my own rifle and hand gun collections. I go 6 miles up the road to our local range quite often to practice. I am a licensed CCW carrier as well so this is NOT at all a battle on guns or 2nd amendment rights, this is about common sense and SAFETY. The first rule of the NRA is know your back stop and further more what is behind it because no shot is guaranteed. We have a ton of private ranges around us all out here and no one is bothering any of those other folks because they did it safely and they are not shooting fully automatics and 50 BMG aimed at residential homes. We have one guy who shoots every night and good for him and God bless his ammo bill monthly lol . The man in question is an arms dealer as well though and openly said he will not only be shooting these high powered rifles but he test them on his private range, so how easy is it for something to be off and go wrong and now you just fired a 50 BMG towards several homes. We have mainly .25 -.50 acre lots here folks we are not country folk out here at all... We have 2 schools less than 900 feet away as well. Some other parents and a school official have already complained that kids panicked one day during a "shooter on campus drill" because they heard his shots and thought it wasn't a drill. REALLY not cool at all. Another mom out here called sheriff concerned a shooter was out here and that her kid was going to get shot getting off the bus... so I know the news chose to put my face on the "battle' since I am the closest home but trust me when I say it's not my battle alone out here at all. We met with a few attorneys before we all collectively agreed on the one we chose to retain.
So here is an update on the range since November so we can help clear some of the air up, yes it is legal to have a private range in Florida if you have more than acre and is considered reasonably safe. Now since all this began we ( I am not the only neighbor who has an issue with this man there are several homes out here who all retained the same attorney over this issue, so yes it is legally being handled) 2 homes out here have both received letters from the Florida Attorney General pointing us to our county commissioners and zoning to address this since per planning and planning and development in our area does not allow a rifle range, only Ag land can have those and this man is the one who bought his property butted up against a completely residential area and then chose to aim his range at the residential area homes. He could have aimed it at his own home, he could have turned it towards a direction that butts up against over 40 acres that have no homes in its path and we did ask him to turn it and he refused, he offered to build another one aimed in that direction for hand gun use but did not want to turn the rifle range because he is and has been shooting a 50 BMG on this range that is only 200 FEET from our home. So for those of you who think this is cool, please tell me what range allows you to shoot a 50 BMG 200 Feet from someone? ? I called over 100 ranges and not a single one would allow anything like this.
There is the debate on the 45 ft wall berm, for those of you who called BS on him YOU were correct he hasn't done a single thing other than the hole you see dug out which yes washes away with each rain we have here in Florida, so he has about an 12 ft dug out hole but nothing above ground at all so those of you who said if he misses and goes over his berm it is dangerous YOU are also correct and it is aimed right at my son's bedroom and anyone who knows a 50 BMG knows that will blow right through our block walls and into our home, heck several rifles would at those close a range... We told him if he feels it is so safe for all our children and grandchildren out here then why doesn't he send his own kids out back to play behind it when they shoot? I mean his buddy who came over and shot with him bragged to some of the neighbors who he failed epically at trying to rally behind him that when he shot the 50 BMG his son who is under 5 was in his lap! Great parenting skills there... I take my son to a range as well he is a little older but I would never have him on my lap while shooting a 50 BMG , that' s just reckless.. This man shoots fully automatic rifles on this range with his friends not just himself, he shoots his 50 BMG and his friend was kind enough to post pictures all over Facebook bragging about how proud they are and as well as the ammo they were using and magically a tree on our lot behind his range got snapped in half clean snap, when we made police report.. they suddenly claimed they were using frangible ammo ( although that isn't what was pictured in their pictures all over Facebook) doesn't take a genius to figure out that was a lie...not to mention we have audio recording of it and you can tell the difference in the sound between a frangible and a live round and we have a ton of ex military folks out here in our residential area that all heard the shots who called BS on the frangible as well.....
For those who say I should sell and move... why would I move when I built first and I'm not the one alone in this battle? There are several homes out her suing this man all with the same attorney. Now I did just have my house appraised 6 months prior to his build so if those who say he would make an awesome neighbor would like to cut me a check for the value, he can be their awesome neighbor, although I have pointed that out on other sites and I check my mail daily and there are still no checks so I guess they don't really want him as a neighbor as well.
For those who mentioned the noise, YOU are correct as well. I have now began to see a hearing specialist who has documented I have irreversible hearing damage in my one ear since this began. I never go to the range when I shoot without hearing protection because that would be ( well first off the range requires hearing protection ) and 2nd it's common sense. Now imagine being at the end of a range 200 feet away aimed in your direction and having rapid fire and a 50 BMG with no hearing protection on... I also work from home so I have been on conference calls with clients who have heard the rapid fire in the back ground and had to explain the situation as well as why my dogs are howling in the back ground as well ( and yes they can still hear the gun shots over my dogs howling on my work calls and videos ).
For those who think he might just be a stand up guy as well, the EPA was sent out per our Governor here in Florida on our behalf after another neighbor reached out to his office. He sent them out and they went after this guy for clearing more than an acre of land without the proper permits. He is a contractor he knows you are required to pull permits and still didn't, he didn't even pull the permit to clear his lot until after our State Rep was already made aware of the situation, then he went and pulled a permit ( mind you the lot was already cleared and the hole dug at this point) sound sketchy to you? Yeah we all thought so too
For the person who mentioned home owners insurance YOU are correct we asked him point blank if his home owners insurance was aware of this situation... his response... I think so I'm not sure... hmmm ( scratch head that bleached botox head lol ) you think they know? SO other words they don't because you didn't let your bank who holds the liability during your build right know but rest assure they will and rest assure they will require an additional liability policy and from the brokers I've called and inquired with ,,,wheeeeewwww it would've been a lot cheaper for you to have just went and bought a 10+ acre lot on an agriculture zoned plot that this would make more sense to do on. So for those who felt I or all the other neighbors out here should move.. maybe the other guy should actually move to a more realistic location to do what he is looking to do with the calibers he would like to shoot, OR turn it towards his own home... after all what he is doing is safe right?? So it should be safe to point at his kids rather than ours. He doesn't even live out here yet and he has shot several times with others and his one friend went door to door trying to gather support ( he found 2 homes not in the line of fire to support him ) and he bragged how this guy is going to throw a huge open house party and light it up...
Although final note is he has been quite recently since our attorney met with the County. She made it quite clear of our rights and how unsafe this is and how fully prepared she is to move forward to the next step with the State as well as with expert witnesses who are certified in this particular area of range design, ballistics and psychological and health effects it has on those around us. We have a a lot of veterans out here, law enforcement and well I got to know all my neighbors really fast and really well we actually have a gun shot survivor who has children and his house is also right in the line of fire, his new house that he built for his kids to have a safe place to play, imagine the look on his face when he saw the pictures of the range and heard the guns he fired the first time...
