Commissioners hope to balance interests, avoid having opponents viewing other side as having horns
The county’s board of commissioners agreed to shelve this prospective new ordinance just as it was poised to come up for discussion on Monday.
This unanimous move came amid a firestorm of controversy over the proposed rules, which the commissioners had previously ordered the county attorney to draft due to persistent complaints about stray bullets and other hazards from Rad Range Training and Events Center along Jim Barnwell Road.
The county attorney’s proposal aims to address these concerns through various safety requirements, a permitting system for commercial gun ranges, and criminal sanctions for especially reckless gunplay.
These measures, which were originally slated to come before the commissioners last Tuesday, were already being denounced by Rad Range’s proprietor when a sudden snow storm scuttled that evening’s regularly-scheduled meeting. In the meantime, the proposed ordinance had put several other area gun ranges on a war footing, making for quite the turnout when the commissioners held their makeup meeting on Monday.
The county’s governing board ultimately convened this special-called meeting before a capacity crowd of gun range patrons and Rad’s frustrated neighbors – including many who count themselves as habitués of other area gun ranges. In was in the spirit of reconciling these two warring factions that Steve Carter, the vice chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners, urged his colleagues to set the proposed ordinance aside.
“One of our primary roles is public safety and we’ve got to balance the two. We don’t want to put anybody out of business but what we do want to do is ensure that gun ranges are operated in a safe way.”
– County commissioner vice chairman Steve Carter
“I’d like the county attorney to have an opportunity to meet with the gun range owners and go through the needs of the citizens,” Carter declared before the commissioners voted 5-to-0 to put off their consideration of the proposed regulations. “One of our primary roles is public safety and we’ve got to balance the two. We don’t want to put anybody out of business but what we do want to do is ensure that gun ranges are operated in a safe way.”
By and large, Carter’s call for balance was warmly embraced by the rest of the county’s governing board.
“We do not need bullets/projectiles leaving a property,” declared John Paisley, Jr., the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners. “At the same time, we don’t want to make this so restrictive that those of us who like to target practice…are prohibited from honing our skills.”
“I’m supportive of the second amendment, but it has to be done safely,” concurred Kelly Allen, who was appointed to a vacant seat on the board late last year.
In the meantime, the prospect of a negotiated solution struck home with board members like first-term commissioner Ed Priola.
“I think in addition to rewriting the proposed ordinance. . . we need to have all the parties sit down and get together. So, let’s get the folks together to realize that the other side doesn’t have horns.”
– County commissioner Ed Priola
“I think in addition to rewriting the proposed ordinance…we need to have all the parties sit down and get together,” Priola opined “So, let’s get the folks together to realize that the other side doesn’t have horns.”
The diplomatic approach also had traction with a number of the residents who weighed in on the proposed ordinance during a designated public comment period on Monday. The idea of an extra-legal rapprochement was particularly attractive to shooting range representatives like Greensboro resident Gerald Long, who addressed the commissioners on behalf of the Central Carolina Gun Club, which is headquartered north of Burlington’s municipal limits.
“We at Central Carolina gun club have always emphasized safety, and we have been conscious of our neighbors,” Long said when he got his turn at the microphone.
“Given the ordinance as it is written, it is my opinion that it will not accomplish your objective of making residents close to the ranges more safe…I think there is a solution to this issue and it involves adults sitting down.”
Meanwhile, the prospect of peace talks was quickly picked up by county attorney Rik Stevens, who had authored the proposed regulations that triggered all the commotion on Monday.
“I’ve gotten a lot of contact information from local gun owners,” Stevens informed the commissioners as that evening’s meeting drew to a close, “and I’m going to try to put together what I call ‘the gun cabinet’ to get some feedback on future proposals.”
