discharge ordinance Caldwell county (Lockhart)

[tommyg]

I'm in the process of buying a cabin in rural caldwell county (near Lockhart)
Will be retiring soon with my girl friend and want to get out of Austin
Does anyone have any info concerning ordinances about discharging a firearm in the county

I don't plan on doing any shooting on the property..Just want to know

[tommyg]

I found an answer to my own ???

counties can limit discharge on land under 10 acres.
it is up to the county decide on an ordinance if any
http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-ne ... e-property

[Zook]

I'm in the process of buying a cabin in rural caldwell county (near Lockhart)
Will be retiring soon with my girl friend and want to get out of Austin
Does anyone have any info concerning ordinances about discharging a firearm in the county

I don't plan on doing any shooting on the property..Just want to know

Found on another forum.

Oops sorry I didn’t see your follow up.



Back in summer of 2007 I bought 23 acres in rural Caldwell county near the community of McMahan, and one of the primary purposes was to build my own range. I was sick and tired of all the bull rules, outrageous fees and clueless idiots at public ranges, so I figured I might as well invest in my own freedom. I plan on moving out there in the next few years when and if the housing market turns around a bit and I can sell my suburban house in NW Austin.

Anyway, there is no such thing as a state level restriction on the amount of land required for discharging firearms. Most counties have some kind of restriction on minimum acreage with in *incorporated* areas that don't already have a municipal ordinance that overrides it. For Caldwell county, there is no restriction whatsoever on the number of acres required for discharging firearms in *unincorporated* rural areas and I'm fairly certain that holds for Travis, Bastrop and Hays as well. You are only required to shoot safely insofar as you are responsible for what happens should a projectile leave your property and harm another person or someone else's property (insofar as that can be proven).

About a year ago there was an incident in Hays county near Buda where a guy was shooting in his back yard in an area with houses (well, mostly mobile homes) that were relatively close together on 1-2 acre tracts. He had a very poor backstop and one of his .22lr rounds managed to hit and kill a small boy playing outside a few hundred yards away. This was obviously a case of personal negligence (Rule 4) but a bunch of busybodys in Hays county (mostly yuppies fresh off the boat from Commiefornia living in/around Dripping Springs/Wimberly) decided that needed to push for shooting regulations in unincorporated areas (they wanted to ban shooting on private property in unincorporated areas less than 2 acres). The proposed regulations eventually failed but it caused both Travis and Bastrop counties' commissioners to start talking about similar potential bans, but those never went anywhere either. Texas is still a state very serious about property rights. Heres the story:

Hays County Commissioners vote against shooting ban | News for Austin, Texas | KVUE.com | Top Stories

This does not mean you aren't liable for any projectiles which might leave your property. If a bullet escapes your property and injures persons, animals, or property and it can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to a jury that you are responsible, you are potentially both criminally and civilly liable.. and this also means that you are potentially liable even if it wasn't you yourself who pulled the trigger, such as with a guest shooting on your property. As for myself, my property is only 23 acres, but I was able hire a dozer and cut a 250 yard shooting range with a 7' berm. Luckily, there a huge chicken farm about 2 miles south of me that has some serious stench for anyone who would choose to live much further south of me so my berm faces this direction. My shooting position is higher than the targets in front of the berm plus there are thich post oak trees beyond the berm. If for some unlikely a reason a bullet were to make it over the berm, the likelihood of it hitting someone or someone's property would be incredibly small... though the possibility is there.

I choose to shoot full auto rifles, FMJ ammo, rapid fire, reactive/steel targets, from field positions and drawing from holsters on my range because I want to and there is no damned range nazi there to tell me I cant. Ever since Hill Country Rifle Range (aka Crazy Richard's) went out of business there was noplace to shoot in Austin without a bunch of bull rules preventing me from shooting the way I want to. Now I have the freedom to do as I please, but thats coupled with a good bit of responsibility. Be sure you find insurance that will extend liability from your homeowners policy to your land (Texas Farm Bureau will do this for unimproved property you own regardless of whether your home sits on that property). This will cover you to some degree but proper range design with safety in mind should be your primary goal.

Building all kinds of anal retentive undershoot baffles and shooting only slow aimed shots from a bench at paper targets with soft point ammo (boring) might be overkill if you are remote enough but if you have nearby neighbors, you might have to do that in order to have the privilege of having your own range. Take my advice and buy as much land as you can afford as far away from civilization you can.

Avoid counties that are popular with "yuppie" types who generally have more socialist/liberal politics (Dripping Springs/Driftwood/Wimberly plus Bastrop/Smithville are getting bad... infested with Commiefornians bouncing from Austin). The hill country will offer more opportunity for natral berms, but land there is generally waaay overpriced relative to land east if I35. Land in the far west of the hill country such as the Rocksprings area is still cheap, but beware of any land with shared water rights or any kind of building/deed/property restrictions in organized "ranchette" communities. There will almost always be rules there eventually to spoil any plans you have for private ranges.

Its too bad Texas doesn't really have any public land to speak of where you can just go shoot whenever you want such as in the Rocky Mountain states. here, we have to pay for the right to have that kind of freedom by buying our own land. Its not at all cheap, but to me its 100% worth it to have the ability to shot whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want in whatever manner I choose without anyone else telling me I can't. Worth every damn penny

[Smokey613]

Here is a link to the statute referenced in one of the above post. The very first portion of that law limits applicability to counties of 1 million or more population.

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D ... LG.235.htm

[jmorris]

I found an answer to my own ???

counties can limit discharge on land under 10 acres.
it is up to the county decide on an ordinance if any
http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-ne ... e-property

But LGC 7, B, 235, B, says "located in the unincorporated area of the county in a subdivision".

[RossA]

I have probably heard some old wive's tales about this that aren't correct, but I have always heard about a rule concerning 50 acres or more for a shooting range in an unincorporated county area. Is that totally wrong?

[jmorris]

I have probably heard some old wive's tales about this that aren't correct, but I have always heard about a rule concerning 50 acres or more for a shooting range in an unincorporated county area. Is that totally wrong?

Yes. There are limits within the city limits/ETJ or in a subdivision in the county.
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/D ... LG.229.htm
Sec. 229.002. REGULATION OF DISCHARGE OF WEAPON. A municipality may not apply a regulation relating to the discharge of firearms or other weapons in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality or in an area annexed by the municipality after September 1, 1981, if the firearm or other weapon is:
(1) a shotgun, air rifle or pistol, BB gun, or bow and arrow discharged:
(A) on a tract of land of 10 acres or more and more than 150 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and
(B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract; or
(2) a center fire or rim fire rifle or pistol of any caliber discharged:
(A) on a tract of land of 50 acres or more and more than 300 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and
(B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract.

229.003 applies to cities or counties with certain populations. Same acreage but some further requirements.

If you're in a municipality located in a county in which the majority of the population of two or more municipalities with a population of 300,000 or more are located then it's a 100 acres for both. 229.004