In Florida, Neighbor’s Backyard Could Be a Shooting Range

By Cammy Clark, Miami Herald | February 4, 2014

  • February 4, 2014 at 1:07 pm
    Captain Planet says:
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    Combine this with the “stand your ground and shoot first” law in FL, and what could go wrong?

    • February 6, 2014 at 3:51 pm
      CalDude says:
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      As long as you keep the bass down on your stereo, you should be OK…

  • February 4, 2014 at 1:10 pm
    bob says:
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    the law has been on the books for 27 years. ’nuff said. much ado about nothing.

  • February 4, 2014 at 1:34 pm
    reality bites says:
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    A neighbor of ours in MA has a range in his backyard. MA also has statutes protecting the rights of property owners to have ranges – probably in the same vein as ‘good for the militia’ regs.

    The range and in fact the entire property had been an abandoned summer camp for decades until the neighbor built a nice, MASSIVE residence in the woods as a part of a compound for their extended family. They rebuilt other areas like a tennis court, baseball field etc. and it’s good to have something going on, rather than fallow overgrown fields.

    But NOT the range. It is annoying to have to listen to high-power revolvers, automatics and rifles being shot during indiscriminate times. I am a hunter, and I shoot at my father’s tony private gun club, so I don’t mind the activity, but there are no apparent controls over the times of the use of the range.

    Thus, an otherwise peaceful Saturday afternoon can be readily shattered by the stacatto noise emanating across the boundary. I once called the local constabulary and was told that it was “farm country, and farmers do that sort of stuff”, as if I were an otherwise ignorant second-home-owner.

    Frankly, the only crop this ‘farmer’ raises is a cash crop, or rather he seems to have enough money to be growing dollars through his erstwhile business pursuits. This is no farmer; this is an intelligent, modern city weekender with enough smarts to allow the police to practice there. But he was able to grandfather his range within a law written before the country became exurbs.

    • February 6, 2014 at 12:45 pm
      Trust me I am not a liberal says:
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      Suck it up, Reality because the reality is, this neighbor of yours has every right to have that range in his back yard.

      • February 6, 2014 at 1:31 pm
        insurance is fun! says:
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        I think the point is that he ought not have that right.

        There are zoning laws, rules about parking RVs in your yard, even rules about what color you can/can’t paint your house… all in place to protect property values. Forget all the safety issues, what the heck does a shooting range next door do to your property value?

        You gun nuts just don’t get it.

        • February 6, 2014 at 2:08 pm
          Trust me I am not a liberal says:
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          It’s us ‘gun nuts’, as you put it, who protect your a** every single day so you wing nuts can get online and protest about how much you hate guns. Stop being such a wuss.

          • February 6, 2014 at 4:58 pm
            insurance is fun! says:
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            Just so you know, my government and those who proudly serve (locally and nationally) provide all the protection I need. I will count on them, thank you… not you.

            You and your fellow nuts have NEVER protected me, nor will I ever ask you for protection…unless you’re the one who answers the 911 line.

            So, you and your little militia can go on pretending that you’re preoccupation with guns is somehow needed.

          • February 7, 2014 at 9:22 am
            Libby says:
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            Just FYI, it’s “We gun nuts.” I can’t believe how many uneducated people there are on this site.

          • February 7, 2014 at 10:34 am
            reality bites says:
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            This is a tough call for me. I straddle the fence because as much as I love the tranquility of the peaceful countryside, I also love my gun though it has a nasty history of being used for evil purposes (8MM Mauser, sporterized, still with swastikas and I even have a couple of ‘period’ boxes of ammo). We harvest deer at a nearby vineyard each year and ‘et what we git’. There’s something about enjoying organic lean food which cannot be replicated.
            There is a corollary problem in that around 10% of the houses in our immediate area have For Sale signs up. I cannot think of anything more detrimental to property values and sales than hearing the sounds of gunfire when it isn’t hunting season.
            I do wonder though if all ‘gun nuts’ are really protecting my @ss on a daily basis. That’s a little too general and living in the NY Metro area, there is a difference between gun users and gun fans. Both could be considered ‘nuts’, but so could Springsteen fans.
            And please do not misunderstand me. My neighbor is probably a great person and extremely responsible in the use of the range. I have no fear of ricochets etc. It’s truly just a noise issue.

        • February 6, 2014 at 2:09 pm
          Trust me I am not a liberal says:
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          And, if you live in a community where you can’t paint your own front door magenta if you wanted to, you can more than likely thank a liberal.

          • February 6, 2014 at 2:19 pm
            KY jw says:
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            No, I don’t think liberals are all that interested in communities looking all alike. This is in reference to your comment about painting your door magenta. I’d be more willing to believe the liberal is the one with the funky paint job.

          • February 6, 2014 at 2:23 pm
            Trust me I am not a liberal says:
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            KY jw says: …” I’d be more willing to believe the liberal is the one with the funky paint job.” That would probably be because they smoked too much dope.

          • February 6, 2014 at 2:46 pm
            Libby says:
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            You’re a nasty little piece of work, aren’t you?

        • February 7, 2014 at 8:57 am
          txmouthbreetherboogereatertx says:
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          You kidding me? You melt down all that them there metal casings from all that them bullets in your backyard and you can make yourself more guns. All that them there beer cans of Schlitz that you are shootin’ at, those make guns too. When the feds come storming you can melt yer trailer down into a big gun. Who wouldn’t want to make guns.

          All the Dale Gribbles of “murrica need to be protected. Protected from themselves.

          ‘Murrica F Yeah!

          • February 7, 2014 at 5:42 pm
            Naah.... says:
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            Brass & aluminum don’t make very good shootin’ sticks.

  • February 4, 2014 at 1:36 pm
    insurance is fun! says:
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    Dear Florida,
    Take your “Stand Your Ground,” your backyard shooting galleries, your 6-hour voting lines, your Jeb and Rubio, and your hanging chads and please just secede…please.

    • February 4, 2014 at 2:59 pm
      brokie says:
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      You forgot “Skeletor” the governor….. I think Anita Bryant is still hatin’ down there…Casey Anthony….

  • February 4, 2014 at 1:38 pm
    sl says:
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    May be hard to find a nice quiet Florida neighborhood in the future.

    But sticking to Insurance issues – Insurance carriers will now need to inquire about a shooting range in the backyard and the adjacent exposures. Do you think underwriters will like this exposure? What could go wrong??

    • February 4, 2014 at 1:57 pm
      jw says:
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      Insurance contracts are based on negligence, just because you shoot someone does not mean you were acting negligently. You may get defense with reservation of rights. Just like if your tree falls on your neighbors house.

      • February 4, 2014 at 2:29 pm
        insurance is fun! says:
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        jw…..Are you really saying that if you are shooting at tin cans in your backyard and you accidentally kill your neighbor, a negligent act has not occurred? While I would agree the shooter most likely had no intent to kill, there is negligence in some shape or form.

    • February 4, 2014 at 2:25 pm
      Libby says:
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      Alot could go wrong. And I certainly don’t want to live next door to some yahoo that’s shooting his gun next to my property. Bullets richochet, people get tanked up and think it’s fun to shoot their guns, their kids see dad doing it and think it would be fun for them to do it, too. I could go on and on. I agree with insurance is fun! Florida, you and Texas, please secede already.

      • February 4, 2014 at 2:57 pm
        brokie says:
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        …take Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi along with you….

        • February 4, 2014 at 4:12 pm
          Don't Call Me Shirley says:
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          But if they left, where would they get all their welfare money?

      • February 5, 2014 at 10:26 am
        reality bites says:
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        Libby – the interesting factoid to my input above is that one of the things my neighbor does really well is that he owns an insurance agency! I was kinda hoping he might have seen this thread because I’ve never had the nerve to confront him about the range.

        But I will say that his range (based on walk-throughs of the property when it was abandoned) was set up properly, and probably improved upon since. The only thing that would escape the range is the noise, and I have a buffer zone of a house between our property lines.

        Thankfully I don’t live the rest of the week in a crime-ridden zone, or that I didn’t serve in an armed force, because the sounds would be enough to create PTSD.

        And it’s not like we moved next to an airport years ago, and cried NIMBY as the airport announced an expansion project. There are few apparent legal remedies available when a range opens, or in my case, re-opens. But a little common courtesy would be nice. Maybe he could invite me over to scope my sights before Opening Day? Or have a FB page alerting the neighbors of shooting days and times?

        • February 6, 2014 at 2:51 pm
          Libby says:
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          I understood your point, Bites. There is such as thing as disturbing the peace, which you are as much entitled to as he is to have his range. You’re right. The issue is his insensitity to his neighbors. I think you should make those suggestions to him, either face-to-face or anonymously. If he’s any kind of considerate person, he will take them to heart.

          • February 6, 2014 at 5:14 pm
            insurance is fun! says:
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            Libby:

            Nice idea. Your suggestion might work for you and me, but we’re talking about a yokel taking target practice in his yard. I doubt he’d understand or care in the least about our concerns.

          • February 7, 2014 at 9:24 am
            Libby says:
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            True, Insurance is Fun! I keep forgetting all people are not considerate and caring.

  • February 4, 2014 at 2:13 pm
    jack says:
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    And your house COULD be a meth lab. Or your neighbor COULD be a movie star the OD’s. Or your car COULD kill some one in a DUI.

    could,could,could,if,if,if,blah,blah,blah

    • February 4, 2014 at 5:10 pm
      Don't Call Me Shirley says:
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      Information gathered by the IRS on Tea Party groups COULD be used politically.

      could, could, could, if, if, if, blah, blah, blah

      • February 7, 2014 at 5:47 pm
        Jack, you're back....... says:
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        Now go away again….

  • February 4, 2014 at 3:06 pm
    ExciteBiker says:
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    Hold on just a minute. This man threatened to open a public gun range because a proposed day care facility next door would have ruined his grand plans for a dream house. And the very same man sees nothing wrong with regularly shooting guns in his neighborhood. There is a word for a person like that. It starts with “A” and ends with “Hole”.

  • February 4, 2014 at 3:46 pm
    Boonedoggle says:
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    Let me get this straight. Homeowners insurers require a separate policy for someone with a small fishing boat with an outboard motor, yet they willingly accept risks of idiots who want to shoot assault rifles in residential neighborhoods?

    If risk is not a rating issue, then why incur the expense of employing underwriters?

    • February 5, 2014 at 5:28 pm
      companyman says:
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      Boonedoggle – Homeowners insurers..WILLINGLY no but unknowingly yes. Add this to just another reason why carriers do not want to do business in the state..

  • February 4, 2014 at 3:59 pm
    Oracle says:
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    But having the US Military fire blanks from a Helicopter machine gun at roof top level in Miami at night is aok?
    Video from Channel 7 – military helos firing “blanks” in Miami!

    youtube.com/watch?v=ri9ioCbqJCU
    miami.cbslocal.com/2013/01/25/blackhawks-used-in-military-training-exercise-in-miami/

  • February 4, 2014 at 5:38 pm
    Jon says:
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    As an interesting factiod:

    “silencers” (sound suppressors) were initially marketed to the general populace as a means to not annoy your neighbor when you were out shooting on your property.

    Bob (gah, I’m actually agreeing with him! Help!) actually has a valid point–this law has been extant for over 27 years. So there’s no historic precedent for it to be a problem.

    But—but: I can see where things will eventually go horribly wrong. The subject of the article is very concerned with public and personal safety while retaining his right to legally use his firearm. But you can’t guaranty that level of public conscience. And as the law gains more public visibility, I think you will see an increase in general idiocy rearing its head.

    I trust people out west (safe Cali) far more about public safe usage of their firearms than your average south Floridian. (Northern (IE panhandle) Florida is more spread out and not as population dense.

    • February 4, 2014 at 6:22 pm
      insurance is fun! says:
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      Jon: I think you’re right…”dense” pretty much sums it up.

      • February 5, 2014 at 10:09 am
        SWFL Agent says:
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        27 years is a long time in the state of Florida. The state’s population has grown substantially and we’re living closer together. This law may not make sense now. This guy in the Keys sounds somewhat reasonable but we don’t make laws for guys like him. We make them for the knuckleheads that don’t act responsibly. I couldn’t think of anything more miserable than to live next door to someone who invites their friends over on a Saturday and has an all day shooting contest.

        • February 5, 2014 at 1:55 pm
          Phoenix says:
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          Well, if you’re personally annoyed or unhappy we better pass a law to fix that! After all, isn’t that the purpose of government, to make sure we are all happy and content in our own little worlds without being interfered with by things that make others happy?

          • February 5, 2014 at 4:41 pm
            SWFL Agent says:
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            Yes, I would be annoyed and unhappy with a gun range next door. And you’d be lying if you said you wouldn’t be as well. I would prefer not to have a battery acid plant, fracking operation, galvanizing operation, or strip club next door either. Thought that’s why we had zoning laws. But there I go again, expecting the Gubment to create laws to protect my little world.

  • February 6, 2014 at 8:42 am
    txmouthbreatherboogereatertx says:
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    Wait a second. This guy only owns 1 gun range? What kind of southern man is that?

    • February 6, 2014 at 5:32 pm
      insurance is fun! says:
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      Not a rich one.

      The difference between a rich one and a poor one is that the rich one has TWO cars jacked up out in front of the trailer.

  • February 10, 2014 at 11:48 am
    Nan says:
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    The following statement from the article says it all: “If people want to shoot on private property next to a daycare center, they can. Just last month, Ernie Vasiliou threatened to put a private gun range on a one-acre lot on Ranches Road west of Boynton Beach if a proposed daycare center were approved on land next to his. Vasiliou said noisy kids would ruin his dream-home plans.”

    RUIN HIS DREAM HOME? You threaten a town that if they allow a “DAYCARE” you will shoot guns next to them?? What a conceited JERK! I thought the GOP loved those grandchildren as much as their guns but obviously they don’t really! guns guns guns..

  • September 22, 2014 at 5:16 pm
    dorothea knightt says:
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    ATTENTION: Come to Michigan – check out St. Clair Township – beautiful rural/residential area on the beautiful St. Clair River. You can set up a target shooting range – just about anywhere – no problem Verify by calling the township hall, building/zoning enforcement officer, Brian Baily (810) 329-0046, Michigan has stanard “safety zone” regulations for Hunting -but most of the township do not regulate back yard shooting. In some neighborhoods it sounds like the wild west.



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