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Am still scratching my head on how this is legal. http://www.wfla.com/story/27997914/st-p ... s-outraged" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Unless in Texas' equivalent "unincorporated county".

The conflict between legal and stupidity. It is terrible when someone has the right to be legally stupid. This is worse than OCT.

How is that "berm" anywhere near adequate??? This really is nuts.

He needs to work on that berm and buy a suppressor. Invite the neighbors to shoot. Who knows, maybe they will all build ranges and start shooting...

I would have a problem with that type of "range" as well. If he had actually put forth some real effort and built a single lane with sides and an adequate backstop maybe the neighbors wouldn't be so concerned. No way should he be allowed to shoot with what he has constructed.

AndyC wrote:Well, I guess it's legal, but... pretty darned un-neighborly of the kid. Even if I could do the same, I wouldn't be that selfish.

They'll start suing him quickly I am sure. If there are no noise statutes being violated there are common law actions for such. Thats ignoring any safety issues or ersulting trespasses.

Neighbors of ours, where I grew up, shot skeet and .22LR targets in their front yard. It was a BIG front yard.

That kid took the express train to Stupid-Town, missed the station at "Oops, My Bad", and got off at "Microcephalic".

My guess is that the city or county will very quickly pass a zoning ordnance banning shooting ranges from within X-distance of a residential neighborhood. And if that sounds like a good idea, it isn't, and here's why..... It sets up a future scenario where residential properties expand into areas where long-standing shooting ranges are found, bringing lawsuits that will chase the ranges away......begging the question: "If you didn't want to live near a shooting range, why did you buy property and build a home near a shooting range? Doesn't the range owner have rights too?"

THAT is what this kind of irresponsibility brings into play, because in all likelihood, the framers of such an ordnance will not consider the rights of ownership with already existing shooting ranges.

Irresponsible exercise of rights invariably leads to restrictions on those rights, and unless Florida also passes a law like ours which protects the rights of range owners, Florida ranges are going to vanish from the landscape as more and more snowbirds move south.

AndyC wrote:Well, I guess it's legal, but...

Not for much longer, I'd wager.

story updated
http://www.wfla.com/story/28023458/st-p ... for-change" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Carannante appears to have changed his mind.

After hearing about the homemade gun range controversy, Tampa radio show host Mike Calta of 102.5 FM's The Bone arranged to have a local shooting range provide a free membership to Carannante, so he wouldn't be firing his gun in his neighborhood. Carannante accepted the shooting range's offer. He now plans to dismantle the gun range.

Poor judgment on his part, but at the same time, his neighbors sound more hysterical than rational. Would I be cowering inside because this guy was shooting at that little backstop? Not likely. That said, unless there is something other than someone else's yard or home on the other side of that back stop, which in a subdivision seems unlikely, I wouldn't consider it adequate even for my own protection if I was him. That's an accident waiting to happen. I'm also surprised it's legal to shoot inside the city limits like that without meeting rather stringent criteria for an actual approved gun range.

I think you can have a gun range in your yard without any safety compromise and without your neighbors even knowing, if you do it right. But right wouldn't be cheap, like his setup is. There are indoor ranges all over the place, and with proper backstopping and ventilation, and some soundproofing, you could build one just about anywhere and no one would be the wiser.

GeekwithaGun wrote:story updated
http://www.wfla.com/story/28023458/st-p ... for-change" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Carannante appears to have changed his mind.

After hearing about the homemade gun range controversy, Tampa radio show host Mike Calta of 102.5 FM's The Bone arranged to have a local shooting range provide a free membership to Carannante, so he wouldn't be firing his gun in his neighborhood. Carannante accepted the shooting range's offer. He now plans to dismantle the gun range.

Win / Win !

Yep, maybe a "win/win" resolution for now. But, notice at the end of the article: this idiot's behavior prompted a lot of undesirable attention followed by a petition. Another written law likely to be passed now due to pure lack of ethics, also defined in hunter ed classes as "the unwritten laws".