The owner of an area gun range has continued to trade public potshots this week with a group of neighbors who’ve been at his heels ever since he established his business on the outskirts of Burlington in 2022.
In the meantime, this neighborhood squabble has attracted some out-of-town legal muscle as one set of adjacent property owners presses ahead with a year-long court battle against the gun range’s proprietor.
Joseph Shuford, an attorney with the Greensboro-based Fox Rothschild Law Firm, formally joined this fracas on Monday when he appeared before Alamance County’s board of commissioners alongside several resident critics of the Rad Range Training and Event Center.
Shuford, who took advantage of a designated public comment period to harangue the commissioners, acknowledged that he had been retained by Howard and Patricia Dunn, who own property next to the gun range’s grounds along Jim Barnwell Road. He added that his clients have gripes with both the noise and operating hours of this firearm-themed enterprise.
“But the real concern is safety,” he added. “The Dunns cannot fully use their property because they’re scared of being shot…and it only takes one bullet to hit a person.”
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Shuford subsequently told The Alamance News that he isn’t currently involved in a court action that the Dunns have pursued against Rad Range’s owner since November of 2023. Their case, which involves claims of trespassing and negligence against the business, has been handled, so far, by a team of lawyers from the Burlington-based firm of Pittman & Steele. Meanwhile, the gun range’s owner Rudy Cartassi has entrusted his defense to the Smith Giles law firm of Graham, which has also filed a counter claim for tortuous interference on Cartassi’s behalf.
In addition to Shuford, the commissioners heard from six of Rad Range’s local detractors during their public comment period on Monday. The gun range’s homegrown opponents included Samantha Powell, who told the county’s governing board that she recently moved back to her family farm along Jim Barnwell Road in the hope that it would prove an idyllic setting to bring up her kids.
“I cannot even walk to my mailbox without worrying about stray bullets and the risk they pose to my unborn child.”
– Resident Samantha Powell
“Since moving back, that dream has been overshadowed by fear and frustration,” she said before recalling a particular instance when she and her family were videotaping outside when a bullet literally screeched past them. “This is not an isolated incident,” she added. “I cannot tell you how devastating it is to look my children in the eye and tell them we can’t stay because the gun range is shooting…I cannot even walk to my mailbox without worrying about stray bullets and the risk they pose to my unborn child.”
Powell’s experiences were echoed by other residents who live farther away from the epicenter of the gunfire. Paul Capps, a 37-year resident of NC 62, insisted that stray bullets from Rad have even reached homes roughly a mile from Jim Barnwell Road. He pointed to one home at this distance from the range where an errant round allegedly became lodged in a bedroom wall.
“This home is located along McCray Road,” he added, “nearly a mile away from the range.”
Meanwhile, Don Foster, a 34-year resident of Deep Creek Church Road, recalled that he once found a bullet on his patio that he believes came from the grounds of gun range about a half mile or so from his home.
“It is scary. It is ridiculous, and we are scared to go outside.”
– Resident Don Foster
“It is frightening the danger we residents are in every day from wild bullets,” he went on to assure the commissioners. “We are appealing to you for drastic control of this dangerous gun range…It is scary. It is ridiculous, and we are scared to go outside.”
Cartassi was also on hand to respond to this criticism, although in the interest of time he limited his remarks to some of the more provocative claims that his detractors had previously shared with the commissioners. The gun range’s owner took issue with one critic who had purposed to trace back the bullet lodged in the McCray Road bedroom to a 50-caliber rifle that his business once had in its possession. Cartassi added that records show that this firearm had already been sold by the time this accidental shooting occurred.
Cartassi also tried to debunk allegations that he or his patrons have been mowing down trees on neighboring property and pulling up “no trespassing” signs planted by adjacent landowners.
“They’re still there,” he insisted as he held up a photo that he said he recently took with his smartphone. “They’re just overgrown with trees that haven’t been shot down.”
The grievances of Cartassi’s critics nevertheless seemed to resonate with a number of county officials who were in attendance that evening.
Steve Carter, the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, conceded that his own experience with firearms has enabled him to appreciate the objections that Rad’s neighbors have raised to automatic gunfire that emanates from the range.
“Once you go past two or three rounds, you’re not accurate,” Carter went on to explain. “It’s going to go wherever it wants to go. So, there’s a risk there to be sure.”
John Paisley, Jr., the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, tried to express a more nuanced view of the feud between Rad and its neighbors. Yet, Paisley, who is himself an attorney by trade, made much of Shuford’s entry into the fray based on his high opinion of the Fox Rothschild Law Firm.
Also eager to demonstrate his sensitivity to Rad’s critics was Alamance County’s attorney Rik Stevens. Stevens recalled that he had previously presented the commissioners with some proposed regulations that would’ve addressed errant fire from outdoor gun ranges. Although push back from Cartassi and others ultimately convinced the board to scrap these suggestions, Stevens said he wouldn’t be averse to dredging those recommendations back up.
“I’m more than happy to provide that option again, or any revision thereof for your consideration,” he added. “I’m also looking at some range ordinances that other counties have which require some design and structural elements to be observed.”
Stevens conceded that it isn’t entirely clear to him if a similar ordinance in Alamance County would even apply to Rad Range’s operations. He noted that Cartassi has consistently claimed a grandfather exemption that may or may not shield his gun range from the regulations that he has considered cribbing from other jurisdictions.
In either case, the county attorney insisted that he is exploring every possible avenue to address the complaints of the Rad’s critics have shared with the commissioners.
“I want to let you know that I’m hearing the concerns,” he added; “They’re not falling on deaf ears.”
It was just such a fair hearing that Shuford had ultimately sought on behalf of his clients as well as anyone else who has been feeling embattled due to Rad’s operations.
“They’re all concerned about the safety of their family and their community,” the attorney said during the board’s public comment period. “The safety problem is only going to get more significant for the county as the surrounding area becomes more and more suburban…So, I ask you tonight to please be the board that deals with this safety issue.”
