Did this pass? Firearms ordinance on table Tuesday!! Houston County

[edhall]

Firearms ordinance on table

By Matt Barnwell TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER

WARNER ROBINS - After distributing more than a hundred fliers at local hunting and fishing shops, Walton Wood said he hopes residents will turn out in droves to tonight's Houston County Commission meeting.

That's when commissioners will likely decide whether to ban the firing of guns within 300 feet of a building.

"If a bunch of folks show up that are opposed to it, we got a chance of shouting it down," said Wood, who delivered letters to county commissioners Monday morning outlining opposition to the proposal. "If nobody shows up, then of course, they're going to pass it."

Clarence Little, owner of Little's Bait & Tackle & Pawn in Perry, said few of his customers have mentioned the issue, although he allowed Wood to leave fliers at his store. For many, the proposed ordinance is too new to generate a lot of feedback, he said.

Little said he thinks the county government may be reacting unnecessarily to people complaining when they hear gunfire.

"There's a whole lot of people out here in the country that could be turned into a criminal," he said. "It's just a come-on, I believe, to the point where there's one more way of getting to your guns."

The ordinance would strengthen the Houston County law so that it does more than just mirror state regulations. Like state law, the new ordinance would prohibit people from shooting into someone else's property, require adult supervision of minors firing guns and put a 150-foot limit in place when firing a gun near a street.

Requiring shooters to stay more than 300 feet from a building, however, is a local stipulation that county officials say is needed here because of booming population growth.

Both the Sheriff's Department and the County Commission have had complaints from residents who are concerned about gunfire near their homes, at times from neighbors shooting targets in their backyards. The county's director of administration, Steve Engle, said he strengthened the law at the request of Capt. Alan Everidge, in the Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff Cullen Talton said he has had only a few calls from people so far who oppose the ordinance and think it is too restrictive.

"What concerns me more than anything is that we're getting a lot of subdivisions out in the county," he said, adding that it is not safe to fire guns period in residential areas.

Talton, who has been Houston sheriff for the last 32-plus years, said he is an avid hunter and understands why gun owners have concerns. The county ordinance does exempt people who fire a gun in self-defense, he noted, which could include someone who uses a firearm to dispatch a snake or other dangerous animal on their property.

Talton, who said he didn't personally request the new law, agreed with county commissioners that it should be adopted.

"Whatever they pass, I'll enforce," he said.

To contact Matt Barnwell, call 923-3109, extension 307, or e-mail mbarnwell@macontel.com

IF YOU GO

Have an opinion on the proposed firearms ordinance? County commissioners will have a public hearing at 6 p.m. today at the County Annex, 200 Carl Vinson Parkway, Warner Robins.

 

[Schulze]

Per state law this is an illegal act.

Ga has a preemption law on the books.

 

[NotaVegetarian]

Houston fails to pull trigger on gun rule

By Matt Barnwell TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITERPosted on Wed, Oct. 19, 2005

WARNER ROBINS - It's still legal for Houston County residents to fire a gun on their property without their neighbor's permission - for now.

Houston County commissioners held off on approving an ordinance Tuesday that would ban residents from firing a gun within 300 feet of an occupied building. The standing-room-only crowd broke into applause when the commission unanimously decided to table the measure.

"That's politics at work - public input," Commissioner Larry Thomson said after the meeting.

About 50 people showed up for the hearing, some speaking in favor of the ordinance and even more speaking against it.

"I think it's going to continue to be seriously deliberated in response to public concerns. And I don't have a problem with that," Chairman Ned Sanders said after the meeting. Commissioners will continue to tweak the ordinance, he said, adding that it was too soon to say how the 300-foot rule might be altered to make it more amenable to residents.

Commissioners Tom McMichael and Jay Walker called the proposed ordinance too restrictive, but McMichael said it could reappear within a month.

Houston County would have been one of the first in the midstate to impose a ban on discharging firearms near an occupied building. Such restrictions are more commonly found in cities' urban landscapes. In the city limits of both Macon and Warner Robins, it is illegal to even fire a gun.

It is the county's rapid growth - and increasingly close living quarters - that first prompted the ordinance. So many homes are being erected on what were once large tracts of open fields and woods that it has become dangerous to fire a gun near an inhabited building, officials and some residents say.

Apart from curbing gunfire near a residence - the primary point of contention - the proposed ordinance mirrors state law in what it regulates in the unincorporated areas of the county:
• Residents can't fire a gun within 150 feet of a road.
• It is illegal to shoot onto or across someone else's property without their permission.
• Persons under the age of 16 must be supervised when firing a gun.

During the 45 minute public hearing before the vote, residents who addressed commissioners expressed several concerns about the issue of distance limitations on firing guns amid a growing county population.

John Mims, who lives on Lake Joy Road, said the primary problem is that the county is not enforcing the state regulations. Individual responsibility was the true solution, he said.

"Most of what you have here is already state law," he told commissioners. "I don't understand why you want to replicate it as a county ordinance. Good judgment is not going to be legislated by a county ordinance."

Several others complained that the ordinance would prevent them from legally killing squirrels, snakes or other pests on their property. Although an exception provides for people firing a gun in self-defense, which Sheriff Cullen Talton says he interprets as also applying to dangerous animals, several expressed doubt that would be the case.

Commissioner Gail Robinson said as the county reworks the ordinance it will need to clarify that issue.

"You really would have to put that in writing," she said.

Other residents spoke in support of restricting gunfire, complaining of neighbors who shoot targets in their back yards with little regard for nearby houses.

"With gun rights comes gun responsibility," said James Adams, who lives near Perry. Pellets and bullets hit his property on a regular basis, he said. "I support you in what you are doing, but I think a thousand feet is a more reasonable distance."

At least three other counties in Georgia - Douglas, Dougherty and Clarke - impose limits on firing a gun near someone's home or office. All are stricter than what Houston County has proposed - Douglas and Dougherty have a 500 foot limit, and Clarke County does not allow center-fire rifles to be discharged within 900 feet of a building and other guns within 600 feet.




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To contact Matt Barnwell, call 923-3109, extension 307, or e-mail mbarnwell@macontel.com.