Posted on 12/12/2013 8:38:53 PM PST by marktwain
PRESCOTT - In what has become an issue pitting gun rights against land use codes, a Williamson Valley landowner had his Second Amendment rights upheld in a Tuesday hearing in Prescott.DeSaye and his attorney must have been persuasive, because the the County ruled in his favor:
Brad DeSaye, owner of Headhunter Ranch LLC, said he never intended to build gun ranges on his properety. (sic)
"The wild rumors that brought us to this point hopefully were dispelled a little bit," DeSaye said. "I feel vindicated that they dismissed it, but at the same time I feel frustrated and I expect the county to come back at me in a different way. This is a private property right; a Second Amendment issue."
After more than three hours of testimony on Tuesday, Yavapai County Hearing Officer Peter Van Harin ruled in DeSaye's favor, allowing him to shoot firearms on his property, overriding the objections of his neighbors and Yavapai County land use officials.The ruling was in his favor, because the property is zoned agricultural, which is excepted from most of the intricate, detailed, incredibly controlling and confining zoning laws. If Yavapai County has the same base code as Yuma, County (which I am familiar with), then for most areas, the code says, anything that is not allowed in the code, is forbidden. This is directly in conflict with the basic American philosophy of the law, which is "Anything that is not forbidden, is allowed". That difference was noted by one of the commenters later:
A quote from a Yavapai County bureaucrat who testified at the hearing:—Yet, that is precisely how most zoning codes work. Some further information from the comments tells us much more about the situation. This is not a 1.25 acre "horse ranch" in the suburbs:
Lynn Chaplin
If a County Ordinance doesn’t permit the activity, the activity is disallowed. No shooting allowed under Ordinance 400, so “no shooting as a matter of right” Simply stated, “you are not allowed to shoot cans on your property.”
This is absurd. If it's not expressly allowed it's prohibited??
I was at the hearing. I went there thinking it Desaye was trying to pull a fast one. After hearing the evidence there was no other possible outcome. Not only did he spend about a million dollars for the ranch, he has spent several hundered thousand since then on drilling wells, water pumps, ponds to irrigate his property. He has a several generation family history in flood irrigation and clearly (after all the rumors were squelched) is interested in having a self sustaining ranch. He also likes to shoot. None if this is against the law. The country wrote the rules, he has abided by them. Why is he guilty of anything? Just becuase the nieghbors dont like it doesnt mean it is illegal. P.S. After driving to the property I discovered this "neighborhood" is in the middle of nowhere, its pretty flat and you can see forever. Gues what. No houses can be seen in any direction. Good Greif people. I thought there was something sinister going on but when I look at it I cant belive anyone has the nerve to cry victim out there. Where are all these neighbors living- its not close- thats for sure. The neighbors whining the loudest in the hearing were several miles from Desays ranch. Bullets whizzing over your head? Yeah right. Not possible.Some good may come of this case. One commenter promises:
To say that the 2nd Am does not protect shooting is like saying that the first amendment does not protect typing. Its' an absurd position to take.
This is CLEARLY A 2A ISSUE.
This case a spurred a movement to pass statewide legislation to prevent counties from trying this nonsense again. I predict it will pass.
If a County Ordinance doesn’t permit the activity, the activity is disallowed. No shooting allowed under Ordinance 400, so “no shooting as a matter of right” Simply stated, “you are not allowed to shoot cans on your property.”
Amazing the way they think.
It is not really a County ordinance, but part of the zoning code, probably copied word for word from a “model zoning code” put out by a central “planner” organization. On the first page of such a “model code”, you will often find some equivalent of “Anything that is not allowed in the code is a violation of the code.”
It is an insane way to write law, but it is what it is.
since it seems the Constitution is now in the twilight zone ima jst gonna go with with the the twilight zone....codify that
She had all kinds of fruit trees in their yard...and a big rifle on a living room rack. Hottern Hades, almost zero humidity, with 1001 motels all around.
Screen doors and a cooler--no A.C. I sat in a big ole rocking chair smack in front of the cooler. My grandfather smoked cigarettes that he rolled himself from a tobacco pouch.
Camelback was a marker for me that I was almost there. Her house was torn down when Phoenix got so big. It would have been in the center of town now, but back then...
There were thunderstorms with no rain at all, just mud falling from the storms, with all the dust and wind.
We took the Greyhound bus there and back. Whew, was it hot and were those Greyhound bus stations dreadful.
Scary. I have been shooting cans in the desert for more than fifty years now (on Federal property) and no one has ever stopped me.
Now we have AC and snowbirds (winter visitors). There is still a lot of wild Arizona, but Phoenix is a huge metropolitan area...
Even Yuma seems to be getting rather crowded to me. Over 100,000 population now, and people are saying it is the next Phoenix...
The “Progressives” have been working on that. We have been fighting regulation that make all shooting on national forests illegal... except...
You can see their design. Everything illegal except what we say... Truly scary.
Then they start regulating and narrowing the “exceptions”.
It is interesting to note that the Ruger Ranch is near Prescott, the property that belonged to the Ruger family. Yes, that Ruger family.
OH NO! Not Yuma! Over 100,000 people there? That dusty little town almost on the border? My goodness. I went through there in the 1970's. I got REAL tired of going through Blythe. The Salton Sea held no interest for me at all, so there I went driving my 1968 little red VW right through Yuma, Arizona.
HOT. Yuma was hot. I drove through the summer because I had a little bug. I couldn't afford anything more expensive until I got married. Haha, I kept the bug. My husband thought it was a good car.
I remember that my VW seat belt buckle broke in Mexico City (honking constantly, leaning on the horn, as ALL of Mexico City does), so I went to the VW there, spoke with all those VW Germans also living in D.F. and got another VW seat belt buckle. Good days those were.
Ruger is still manufactured in Prescott. I’m surprised they haven’t moved their HQ to Arizona from Connecticut yet.
We moved to AZ from San Diego this past summer. Along the way, we hit Yuma at around 12:30am. It was 102 degrees... in the middle of the night.
It was quite a “Welcome to Arizona!” moment.
I just googled through all my county’s ordinances and can’t find one that allows me to breathe the air.
Gasssp Choooooke Bye....
The way I understand it currently, Its legal to target shoot on Federal (or BLM) land, but illegal on state trust land to shoot a firearm unless you are hunting with a valid hunting license and/or tag if required for whatever your hunting...
Prescott has been impacted by significant numbers of California libs moving in and bringing their “sensitivities” with them.
“OH NO! Not Yuma! Over 100,000 people there?”
That is permanent residents. Our winter population swells 3X and traffic is annoying in the middle of the day.
I looked at Alaska, but it was so rainy and cold...
“My mother was from Phoenix,” ....and all else you wrote
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Very good posting of memories, CM! Prompted me to think of some of mine.
The way I understand it currently, Its legal to target shoot on Federal (or BLM) land,...
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Me and several friends used to take a total of probably 30 long guns and pistols to the LBJ National Grasslands, which is NW of the DFW area.
We’d go before both dove and duck seasons opened, just to sharpen our skills. We’d fling clay pidgeons by a hand thrower for the shotguns. We’d set them up on the backside of a thick and tall earthen dam for the rifles, etc.
We would always stop at the nearby Sheriff’s office to explain where we were going and they would give us the latest map of roads and trails there. Never a hassle.
I like the way you write your recollections.
There was an article in the WSJ, a month or so ago, about how local towns in AZ were setting aside additional land for conservation areas. I have to admit that I only skimmed it, looking for mention of Cave Creek or New River, two areas that we like to visit.
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