Gun ranges: Move from Gunshine to Gun-sense

Everyone knows Florida is a gun state, but we all want to believe it is a gun-sensible state.

Then we hear that state law lets people build gun ranges in their backyards.

And local governments can’t do a thing about it.

That’s right. Florida law allows people to build and maintain shooting ranges in their backyards. And unless an owner becomes negligent or reckless, there’s nothing a neighbor can do. For example: There’s no restriction on the type of firearms or ammunition that can be used in a backyard shooting range.

There’s no restriction on the time of day or night your neighbors can use their gun range.

And there’s no restriction on gun ranges near a public school, day-care center or neighborhood playground. Talk about the need for duck-and-cover lessons.

Already people are taking advantage of the law.

In the Florida Keys, a homeowner built a makeshift wooden range in his yard after learning about the law. As reported by the Miami Herald, the man thinks there should be more restrictions, such as requiring gun-range owners to take a gun-safety course. But so far, Tallahassee shows no appetite for change.

In South Florida, a homeowner recently threatened to build a personal gun range west of Boynton Beach if a proposed day-care center was approved on land next door.

Closer to home, residents of the Country Club of Mount Dora two years ago were collecting spent .45-caliber rounds on their property fired from a rural private shooting range adjacent to the Lake County subdivision. How did we get here? The law allowing home gun ranges has been on the books for 27 years. However, as local governments began passing ordinances that banned them, the National Rifle Association convinced state lawmakers in 2011 to fight back.

Now, local leaders who create restrictive ordinances face fines of $5,000 per offense. They can even be removed from office and forced to pay their own legal fees if sued over a gun ordinance.

Fortunately, some South Florida public officials are speaking up for public safety.

Sunrise commissioners recently approved a resolution demanding the state let cities regulate gun use on private property.

It is bad enough Florida has captured the national spotlight for over-the-top gun laws, including “stand your ground,” which removed the requirement that people try to retreat from a threat before resorting to deadly force.

Now, Florida is poised to be the capital of backyard shooting ranges. Gun ranges belong in designated areas, not in people’s backyards.

Lawmakers should revisit the gun-range law this session, and restore control to local leaders who know their communities best.

Those who know us best know we don’t want to be known as the Wild, Wild South.