Shooting in your back yard?

[tallyho8]

Every jurisdiction has it own laws regarding firearms. Some are very confusing or ambiguous.

I have been told that in my parish it is illegal to discharge a firearm. However, there is a 3000 acre hunting lease one mile from me and many neighbors own large tracts where they hunt or target shoot.

I ask different deputies about this and get different answers so I don't think that they even know what the law is. :confused2:

 

[archerm3]

Let the free man be free

 

[czechsonofagun]

Let the free man be free

Never had a problem with that - as long as he creates no danger for myself, my family or my animals.

 

[Big Bri]

I live on 2.5 ac in the county and per the sheriff our only requirement is "the projectile cannot leave the property".

Jack

That is the law here, i see nothing wrong with it as long as he is doing it safely.

 

[3BPercherons]

You never mentioned - what's downrange from his "target" & how far away?

 

[LMTC]

The problem is how does one determine that the projectile does not leave the property? I used to shoot prolifically and competitively. Had a friend whose place we used for select-fire weapons and the few big calibers we shot. We had app 200 yards to a bank...a lightly wooded bank that then rose another 40+ feet in elevation for a width of app. 400' or so. One day a man who had recently joined us to shoot asked if we were aware of "skip". We went "huh?" He said most people assume the relatively soft wooded bank absorbs all the bullets, but in fact a fair percentage "skip" upward and onward due to the angle. Our first reaction was that he was putting us on, but being serious folks we continued to listen. A very brief examination of the hillside made it clear he was right. We found numerous branches cut from fairly high in the trees going up the hillside. I suppose eventually we would have noticed them from the sheer volume, but it was a stark revelation. Next question was how far were those bullets going after hitting the branch(es)? Given that a good deal of them were .308 it seemed very possible they were coming down well beyond the property line, which was around 3000' straight back, but less than 1000 feet angling to the right. We stopped shooting rifles at that site that very day.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Behind his target area is a pond and pasture with cows in front of woods.

Checked with a deputy and showed him land plan, he said that the county has no rules at all - that's Fauquier - and Prince William forbids shooting on your land absolutely.

The only advice was to call 911 when he is at it and I feel it is not safe and they will come and check out the situation.

 

[brin]

My farm is way out in the country and a few years ago I was getting back on my tractor to start it after having stopped it to open a gate...just as I drove through the gate I had a wobbling bullet go past my head...I pushed in the clutch and just froze..If any of you have ever taken fire ...you know the sound..The round had been fired a good distance away and was loosing vilocity and that is where the wobbling sound comes from..still enough force to kill you...When I am out bush hogging or working on the farm..I always wonder when I hear those shots...accidents happen ..Prokop - I think you are right to be concerned...a pile of wood is not the proper backstop for sure.

 

[reb]

Why not offer to help him set up a proper backstop? Maybe then you will have a place to shoot without having to go to the range.

 

[DocHeb]

Just do what my neighbor does - use a dirt backstop. Who gives a heck where the bullet goes? My conversation with him last week:

"Hey neighbor, I hear your rifle rounds tumbling downrange when you're shooting, they're going through you little dirtpile"

"No they aren't"

"Then what is blasting off the branches on my oak tree"

"Oh, that happened when I set off a bomb and blew something up, not while shooting!!!"

I am going to install several sheets of 1/4" luaun plywood behind his backstop (and on my property) in the next couple weeks, and find out how many rounds are actually coming through. If there are holes in the plywood, I will file yet another police report, and then invest a few bucks in a nice 7 foot high concrete wall along our property line.

You can't fix stupid.