Posted on 11/12/2004 7:12:18 AM PST by brbethke
With hunting season in full swing, we thought it'd be a good time to look at an issue that has long languished in the Legislature and is sure to come up in the next session: gun range protection.
Former city dwellers who have moved to the country have learned GASP! there's a shooting range down the road. Some have filed nuisance suits against the ranges, which, we'd point out, were there long before the encroaching neighbors. Range owners have been trying to get legislation through the Legislature in anticipation of more problems as formerly rural areas become increasingly more suburban.
Frankly, we're no more sympathetic to people who want to shut down gun ranges than we are to those who want to close smelly pig farms or slaughterhouses. Just because an existing business shatters someone's vision of country idyll doesn't mean it should be sent packing.
We thought DFL Rep. Rebecca Otto offered a good solution. She proposed that homebuyers moving near gun ranges sign a disclosure statement stating that they know who their neighbors are.
"It's a no-brainer," Otto said. "It's like moving next to a gravel pit."
We agree. Unfortunately, the real estate lobby managed to sideline this sensible proposal. A gun range protection bill made it through the House last session but never made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Fed up with the legislative process, range owners are hoping to reach some sort of compromise with municipalities. Les Bensch, owner of the Viking Valley Hunt Club in Ashby and one of the principal spokesmen for range owners, will host representatives from the Minnesota Association of Townships, the League of Minnesota Cities, and others later this month. Among the topics they'll discuss is a noise standard for ranges.
"If someone files a nuisance suit, that's hard to fight," Bensch said. "But a noise ordinance takes it out of the nuisance category and puts it into the control category."
Bensch said range owners have developed a standard that holds noise to a level lower than the state's industrial standard, which regulates highways, heavy trucks and manufacturing plants.
Range owners also are proposing a set of operational standards based upon the NRA Range Operation Handbook, a national standard. Under the range owners' proposal, the DNR will fine-tune the regs for Minnesota.
Range owners also want protection from lawsuits as long as they're in compliance with noise and operating standards. This could be a tough sell.
"We have to modify this to make it palatable to both sides," Bensch admitted. "We can do that. Will do that."
Having spoken to both sides, it's clear to us that the range owners and municipalities aren't that far apart.
We'll be watching this one closely. Not because it's do-or-die legislation for the state, but for what it will say about the climate in a new Legislature that's nearly equally divided. If legislators can't reach a compromise on a common-sense issue like this, we're in big trouble when it comes to finding common ground on more contentious issues, like education, transportation and the budget.
Right now, we have good relations with our neighbors and are grandfathered into the local zoning. But looking five years down the road -- well, we're concerned.
Groovy!
House is on the market, its up to a perspective homebuyer now....
"Right now, we have good relations with our neighbors and are grandfathered into the local zoning. But looking five years down the road -- well, we're concerned."
Good deal. But I know how hard it is when folks are building those huge houses along 10th. As they get closer to the Gun Club, I imagine you're going to get complaints. I hope you'll be able to fend them off. Of course, having that nice big sign should let folks know you're there. [grin]
I had no idea you were moving up to the land of the giant mosquito. I was sure you were a lifetime Texan.
Well, we may be neighbors soon.
We also want to homeschool her, and any future siblings, and have Zon as either a stay at home, or a work at home Mom. Something my darling wife has discovered she thoroughly enjoys. Somewhat to her surprise. I, of course, have no problems with that sentiment at all and want to do everything I can to ensure I can provide for both of them.
Just like any man would want for his family. ;-)
Well, despite the fact that Minnesota is a stronghold for the liberals, that area of St. Paul is full of hard-working, no-nonsense folks.
My wife and I looked at a lot of neighborhoods when we moved out here, and chose the North-Eastern corner of St. Paul for many reasons.
There are still some good bargains in houses there, and it's close to everything. Recommended.
The only drawback is that it's a very multi-ethnic part of the area, but everyone I've met seem to be embracing the American dream and are working hard towards it. Kids play in the street and the crime rate is low.
I think you'll like it.
Unfortunately, that's only an acknowledgement of an existing condition; it doesn't prevent their trying to change conditions if they find them not to their taste in the future.
One thing that worries me is that the people building out here now really don't understand that they're moving out into Real Country. For example, this past fall we were the subject of a long series of angry noise complaints from people who didn't know that both goose and mourning-dove seasons opened September 4, and that the early-morning shooting they were hearing was from hunters in the Bayport WMA, and not the gun club.
Regards,
~BRB
"One thing that worries me is that the people building out here now really don't understand that they're moving out into Real Country."
Yes, and the more people who move out there, the less it'll be that way. Folks move out of the suburbs so they can have a couple acres of lawn to mow, or even more. But then they want all the services they had in the suburbs, not realizing that getting them will essentially destroy the semi-rural area they moved to.
Sad business, and it's going to get worse. Since I just moved to MN, that was my first drive out on 10th. I live over in NE St. Paul, but do a lot of my shopping on Century and in Woodbury, since I'm right off McKnight. It's a pretty area over by your gun club, but I suspect that the $400K and up crowd are going to be heading over there en masse, especially when the I-94 &I-694 work is done. Pretty easy commute.
OTOH, I suppose the property the gun club is on will be worth a lot more then. Maybe you'll eventually have to relocate further out.
Should have been more specific and said that I think they should make sound suppressors available for purchase by all law-abiding citizens WITHOUT having to jump through BATF/Treasury hoops! The ONLY reason I don't have any "goodies" (sound suppressors, full-auto weapons, short-barreled, etc.) is because, even though I am among the law-abiding, I DO NOT want to highlight myself to a government that may be friendly to me now, but persecute and prosecute me as a owner of such weapons in the future.
Good Luck! Happy hunting...
Multi-ethnic? Hehhe... come on down to Austin, TX sometime if you wanna see "multi-ethnic". I've got no problems with all that as long as everyone is getting along and not being jerks in general. People moving in and setting up their own little barrio or ghetto are not welcome and should really grow the f**k up...
There is a great solution. Push for the de-regulation of sound suppresed weapons (silencers). Then the noobes won't have to listen to all that nasty banging. Maybe you can get them on the bandwagon and take a bite out of the NFA...
BTTT
You're living in the parallel Minnesota, where rational thought prevails - send us a postcard now and then!
I hope I'm wrong. The rules were ridiculous.
Contact Scott at The Freedom Armory; he can help you.
I use Advanced Armament hardware on all my Class III weapons. It's mil-spec and can't be beat.
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