Lake County residents say law has them dodging stray bullets

[SecularMotion]

MOUNT DORA — Gerry and Barbara Benedict hoped to enjoy a quiet Sunday afternoon in their backyard pool at the Country Club of Mount Dora. Then they heard gunfire.

The couple, who live adjacent to a private shooting range in unincorporated Lake County, took cover when a bullet flew into their backyard, just several feet from their pool.

"It's nerve-racking," Barbara Benedict said. "It's like living in the old wild West."

Local officials are having a tough time trying to muzzle the gunfire, saying the gun-rights lobby has succeeded in making city and county governments powerless to manage such situations. A new state law passed year prohibits cities and counties from passing or enforcing local gun regulations.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-06-30/news/os-gun-regulations-neighborhoods-20120630_1_gun-ordinances-gun-rights-local-gun

[CreekDog]

1. does it make you wonder if guns are more important than people?

or at the very least that people with guns have more rights than people without them?

[gejohnston]

11. I'm guessing the range was there first

and public shooting ranges are more important than private country clubs. I say that as a class warrior first, gun nut second.

[ManiacJoe]

12. Psst. You mean the neighbors shooting in their backyard?

[CreekDog]

14. so it's okay if someone in the house next door is shot

this should be on the epitaph of this group.

congratulations.

your quest to make this look like the most ridiculous group has succeeded.

[gejohnston]

16. no, but

someone should be inspecting the berms etc. In Florida, a bullet firing across property lines without a really good reason is a crime. Did they call the cops? If a stray bullet came into my place, I would be calling cops not bitching to the media.

[shadowrider]

18. Kinda makes you wonder

if this really happened or if it's just they don't like it.

[CreekDog]

20. apparently you didn't bother reading the article before weighing in to tell me I'm wrong

why should i answer all your questions when it's all in the article?

jeez.

[gejohnston]

22. Actually I did

and it is a typical cultural conflict between native and colonist. Here in Citrus County, these are the same people who join teabag organizations because they don't like having to slow their big assed boats through manatee sanctuaries. Wake free zones are "unconstitutional", they move next to the water and bitch about the alligators and gun toting rednecks. They hire people to dispose of the gators.

My question was not answered in the article. Bullets flying across property lines is a crime, they should have reported it as a crime. That is part of the uniform law in the state of Florida. That question is not answered in the article. It is not the same as bitching about the noise or duck hunters 100 yards from the house.

[ManiacJoe]

3. It's the neighbors, not a gun club.

At least the way I am reading the article.

[permatex]

4. Your right

it is the neighbors, not a gun club. Apparently they didn't make the berms high enough which I believe is being rectified.
Would be nice if certain posters here would read the articles.

[spin]

5. It also might be wise to realize what's around you when you buy a house ...

For example being downrange of a shooting range or right next to a major airport.

[shadowrider]

15. Or those in North Georgia that buy an expensive house

with a chicken farm on the other side of the hill (that's been there for 50 years), then complaining about the smell.

[Clames]

6. So much BS in that article.

"It's not like the criminal just went out and said, 'Hey they've repealed this ordinance — let's go out and start firing,'" he said.

Criminals not paying attention to the laws you say? Duh.

He heard a metallic "ping" and later found a spent .45-caliber shell on his driveway. A metal cap on a gate post was missing, which he suspects had been knocked off by the bullet.

He would have heard more than a "ping" if he had in fact found the spent shell in his driveway. That would have meant somebody actually fired the gun from his driveway. The shell doesn't travel with the bullet....

"But our No. 1 concern is stray bullets leaving the property and endangering everyone else, and we do not have the ability to regulate that," he said.

Actually you do. You have to have somebody accurately identify an "impact" area downrange. Federal, State, and locals have been doing just that for decades. It costs money because you have to have somebody with expertise survey the area. But we all know anti-gun religionists hate dealing with facts and it's easier just to ask for a ban.

[PavePusher]

7. This article needs a light fisking.....

The couple, who live adjacent to a private shooting range in unincorporated Lake County, took cover when a bullet flew into their backyard, just several feet from their pool.

Surely they saved this bullet for evidence, yes? But it makes no appearance in the article. Hmmmm....

"It's like living in the old wild West."

Actual history doesn't seem to agree with you, madam.

Local officials are having a tough time trying to muzzle the gunfire, saying the gun-rights lobby has succeeded in making city and county governments powerless to manage such situations. A new state law passed year prohibits cities and counties from passing or enforcing local gun regulations.

There are plenty of state laws (and local laws about firearms discharge) that could be effective here if correctly applied, assuming the problem is real and not invented.

Most areas prohibited guns in government buildings, and many cities, including Mount Dora, had banned the discharge of firearms within city limits.

Not at all relevent, as it is revealed, in the second sentence of the article, that the range is not in city limits.

He heard a metallic "ping" and later found a spent .45-caliber shell on his driveway. A metal cap on a gate post was missing, which he suspects had been knocked off by the bullet.

A "spent shell" and a bullet are not the same thing. And where is this item, to be used as evidence?

"You would have to have a police officer witness the negligent discharge of that firearm to prosecute," Rauth said. "That's no relief at all."

What?!?! You mean there must be actual evidence of a crime before law enforcement can take action? Say it ain't so!!!!

[DonP]

8. How dare you besmirch the reputation of the country clubbers in the article

These people are probably friends of the Romney family.

They are special people and much better than you and I and state laws should just be overlooked to give them what they want. They paid for privacy from the hoi polloi and I bet the guard at their gated community would never let a gun owner in their controlled environment.

I'm sure they built the gun club just to annoy them after they were all moved in. <sarcasm off>

This reminds me of the stories about people that bought their property at a lower cost next to the airport glide path, complaining about the airplane noise and where the homeowners holds up a complete 30.06 cartridge for the TV cameras as "proof the the danger they constantly live under".

Sorry, the story has hair all over it.

[jody]

9. This ranks high on the beetle scale.

[rl6214]

10. And another edition of the anti-gun google dump

""It's like living in the old wild West."


I live in the wild west and there are never any bullets landing near me. I think she's full of it.

[ileus]

13. Sounds like they need to talk with the neighbors.

Actually it sounds like 1%er's complaining their neighbors are shooting their firearms instead of polishing their BMW's

[NewMoonTherian]

17. This is a tough situation.

Moving in next to a shooting range(or a chicken farm, or an airport, or anything) and then complaining about it is an asinine, elitist load of garbage.

However, legally, it seems that gun range and its users should be held responsible for any damage done by their bullets. To be in the clear, they would have to buy all the land downrange for... what, a mile and a half? For the sole purpose of keeping it empty.

Short of that, any gun range simply has to rely on others to not be complete pricks, which, in 2012, is far too much to ask of most people.

[ManiacJoe]

21. There is no gun range. It is the neighbors in their backyard.