Amid increasing stories of shooting ranges in the backyards of South Floridians, lawmakers are being urged to intervene and regulate practice and safety measures, the types of backstops used, and how far such ranges must be from schools or playgrounds.
Current law makes clear that private ranges “are permissible as long as the gunfire is not negligent or reckless.”
The problem to date, according to Fox News, is that no one is certain that a reckless shooter has set up a range.
On January 28, Breitbart Sports reported an actual backyard range in Big Pine Key, Florida. The range sits in Doug Varrieur’s backyard, and he holds “Gun Day” every Wednesday from 3 to 4 PM. He calls the police before “Gun Day” starts to let them know they will hear shots during that time.
No one has been shot or wounded at Varrieur’s “Gun Day,” but this is the kind of activity some Florida lawmakers want to regulate–or stop altogether.
Hollywood Commissioner Patricia Asseff called backyard shooting ranges “a crazy thing,” adding, “If some bullet goes flying through the hedges, somebody could get killed. We’re not the wild wild west here.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.
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