Posted on 04/05/2012 7:45:14 PM PDT by marktwain
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Hunters in Olympia say a proposed gun control ordinance is illegal and dangerous, and they're fighting to keep it off the books.
The Thurston County Commission is mulling a proposed ordinance that would make it illegal to fire a gun on county shores.
"Both the residents and the commissioners are persuaded that discharge of firearms in this area is no longer safe because of population density," said Commissioner Karen Valenzuela.
That plan isn't sitting well with local hunters, who say the waters around Olympia are prime locations for duck hunting. The hunters showed up in droves to the commission's Thursday meeting to make their opinions known.
"It's completely unwarranted. There's never been a situation in this county where anyone has been shot with a shotgun, and that's where this started out for us," said Jim Cortines of the Washington Waterfowl Association.
While nobody has been injured, Valenzuela said there's been some close calls.
"We had reports from residents of bullets whizzing by and actually embedded in corners of buildings, along the shorelines of Eld Inlet," she said.
If you know anything about duck hunting, you know that hunters operate near the shoreline, aiming at birds in flight. The new ordinance would call for hunters to be 300 yards in the water before they could fire a gun.
Opponents of the ordinance say the commission's plan would actually put more people in danger.
"If they are near the water, they are shooting out towards the water, they are not shooting toward the shore," said Glen Morgan of the Freedom Foundation. "This ordinance makes them be out in the water and shoot toward shore. By design, it's actually the least safe option the county could have taken."
Valenzuela has heard that argument, but she says there's little chance that a shotgun blast from 300 yards out into the water would reach the shore with enough velocity to cause an injury.
County officials didn't take testimony at Thursday's meeting, but they heard arguments and will make their next move in two weeks.
This sounds like a similar situation where I live we have a shooting range that was way out in the boonies and then they began to build up housing in the area and the new residents complained about the noise, well the county commissioners said it range was there first so they had domain.
We had the same thing happen at our range. One of the encroaching neighbors (1/8 mile away) complained that a bullet had hit her house and provided the “evidence” - a .22 shell casing. ;-)
I’ve got a CZ-52 that will throw brass that far too.
No. Washington State is vying with Oregon and California to see who will be the first “Soviet state” in the U.S.
end of story.
This is a put up job by a bunch of california transplant liberals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.