Complaints by neighbors prompt gun range’s temporary closure
After more than a year of complaints from neighbors, the owners of a gun range in South Bexar County have closed it temporarily to the public to address safety concerns.
The owners of 281 Country Club, a recreational complex off U.S. 281 West, said they are working to raise additional backstops. Club owners are also waiting for accreditation from the National Rifle Association.
Jorge Treviño, one of the owners, said the measures are not required by law. The owners hope that limiting shooting for a couple weeks will “get the neighbors off our backs,” he said.
The club’s 20 owners, however, will still be able to shoot on the property, he said.
Gladys Jimenez, who owns land next door to the gun range, said she is not happy with the decision to reopen the range at a later date.
“I’ve said it over and over, someone’s one bullet away from being killed if they reopen,” Jimenez said Tuesday. “It’s a risk, it is a danger.”
She said neighbors are happy that the activity has stopped, but are still terrified it is going to reopen.
“They’re finally getting their lives back, and they feel safe again,” she said.
Multiple agencies from Bexar County visited the club last week after receiving reports about stray bullets for more than a year. Neighbors say bullets from the range are not being contained by the existing backstops or berms.
On Thursday, the Bexar County Fire Marshal’s office — which follows state law and the NRA guidelines — conducted an inspection of the club property alongside county Environmental Services.
Treviño said he was told the club must apply for building per
mits for two mobile homes on the property, which it plans to rent via an online marketplace.
He also said they told him to cover large tires with dirt to prevent standing water from drawing mosquitoes.
A county spokeswoman said Tuesday that the owner did not receive any violations specific to mosquitoes from the fire marshal’s office during their inspection.
Neither office said anything about the shooting range, Treviño said.
Treviño compared the situation to the pursuit of Al Capone, the notorious Chicago gangster eventually sentenced to prison for failing to file tax returns.
“They would have just called the FBI, the CIA, the county clerk, and the whatever — they’re just trying to get anybody to shut us down for whatever reason,” Treviño said. “It’s kind of like how they got Al Capone. They didn’t get him for the drugs, they got him for not paying his taxes.
“We’re not Al Capone. It’s one of those things that they can’t get us for the shooting, so they’re trying to get us for something else.”
Jimenez maintains that the problem with the gun range is safety for the neighborhood.
On Friday, Abe Gonzales, a private investigator hired by Jimenez, found more than 50 bullets and estimated there were hundreds more on her property.
“That gun range does not belong where it is in any shape or form,” Jimenez said.
A spokesperson for Rebeca Clay-flores, county commissioner for the area, said her office was aware of the situation and working with the Precinct 1 Constable’s Office to better understand the matter.