Shooters:
Last Sunday, I shot a match at my local club's range. No, I didn't win, but I did enjoy a beautiful day on the range testing my skills and enjoying the camaraderie of my fellow club members. I know that you all feel the same way that I do about Idaho's shooting ranges: not only are the opportunities for practice and competition they afford a key part of my life but the rights guaranteed to us by the Second Amendment and Article I Section 11 of the Idaho Constitution are practically meaningless without places to exercise them.
As the population grows and development spreads further and further into what was once rural country shooting ranges are under attack across the United States. As one of the fastest growing states, shooting ranges in Idaho are not immune from encroachment by new neighbors who, even though they knowingly moved near a range, would like to see that range shut down. This is despite all the good things that shooting ranges do for local communities: like conducting hunter safety and junior programs and giving local law enforcement a place to conduct essential training and qualification. If your club is like mine it is a small non-profit run by volunteers which does not have the resources to fight nuisance lawsuits and onerous local regulations.
While we currently have range protection laws on the books, a couple of recent developments have pointed out that they actually offer little protection for existing ranges. The problem is that our range protection laws do not cover a range that has had a "substantial increase in use" and that term is not defined. Which means that a judge could find that a range which has added a few new members or allowed the local police department to do low light training on their facility may be sued or regulated out of existence.
I think everyone active in the shooting sports knows what happened at Farragut State Park. Fish and Game tried to develop the rifle range there into a multiple use shooting facility to host everything from high power to mounted cowboy shooting. Since a judge found that this was a "substantial increase in use" of the range, a group of neighbors were able to sue and eventually obtain an injunction that keeps use of the range capped at a very low level.
Fish and Game has responded to this injunction by writing House Bill 515, which would impose mandatory noise restrictions on all state-owned ranges. The problem is that now there will be "State Standards" on the books which will most likely be applied by local authorities when permitting new ranges and ranges that have had a "substantial change in use". I was told personally by the person in the Attorney Generals office who was responsible for drafting HB515 that they recognized that this could be a problem for private ranges. The Idaho Sport Shooters Alliance and NRA did not oppose or try to amend HB515 because we feel that it is important to try to get Farragut back up and running with the maximum level of use possible.
What we have done with the help of NRA is to draft a bill, HB604 http://www3.state.id.us/oasis/H0604.html, which was introduced in the legislature on Thursday . This bill will fix the problems with the current range protection law by,among other things, providing a definition for "substantial change in use" and specifically allowing ranges to do things like add members, allow law enforcement to use their facility, and make safety improvements while still keeping their protection from lawsuits and local regulation.
I am sending you this because I know you as fellow sport shooters who are vitally interested in keeping our shooting ranges open in Idaho. This is not about IPSC or IDPA, High-power or Silhouette, Cowboys or Trap Shooters, this is about ALL SHOOTERS in Idaho. Please forward this to your fellow range users, especially those who participate in other disciplines. I realize I am taking advantage of your personal contact email to send this out and while I appreciate you taking the time to read and forward this I don't want to impose on your generosity any more than necessary. Please sign up for email alerts and encourage your fellow shooters to do the same so we can keep you up to date on this issue.