Shooting ordinance to get second chance with Lake County Council

A new regulation passed by the Lake County Council regarding the discharging of a firearm that was shot down in January by the Lake County Board of Commissioners will go to further review.

On the agenda of Tuesday’s Lake County Council meeting was amending the ordinance, which prohibited discharging a firearm in unincorporated portions of the county within 700 feet of a neighboring residence.

County attorney Matthew Fech made the recommendation to the commissioners to veto the ordinance, saying it was contravention of Indiana State Law, ambiguous as written and he was not sure it would stand up to a constitutional challenge.

The commissioners followed Fech’s recommendation and vetoed the ordinance in a 3-0 vote.

While the Lake County Council took no action on the ordinance on Tuesday, it didn’t stop them from commenting on the commissioners’ decision.

Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, said she was in favor of overriding the veto by the commissioners. She said they will take a deeper review and pass an ordinance that will attempts to please all parties, which is impossible, and stay within our legal rights as a council. To me it is public safety. And I hope in our further review that we continue to look at distance.

Councilman Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said Fech’s recommendation that the council was in violation of state law is not true.

“That alone is grounds for us to override it,” he said.

Councilwoman Elsie Franklin, D-Gary, said they are looking at safety, not to “overturn” the National Rifle Association.

“They got the community all fired up, saying the council wanted to take their guns away,” she said. “That is not what we were doing.”

The council had previously considering language that would prohibit shooting within 300 feet of another residence, but Councilman Christian Jorgensen, R-St. John, sought to amend the distance requirement up to 700 feet. Jorgensen added language that would not prohibit discharging firearms during hunting season, and allow for shooting within 700 feet if both neighbors had a written agreement saying it was OK.

The county’s existing ordinance bars target shooting from within 200 feet of a property line but only for multi-unit housing subdivisions. The ordinance also prohibits target shooting on an acre or less of property.

Rob Earnshaw is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.