http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060523/NEWS/605230345/1003/EDUCATION05
Governor signs gun range bill
May 23, 2006
By Darren M. Allen Vermont Press Bureau
MONTPELIER — Vermonters who live next to shooting ranges now have a much harder time suing over the noise of gunfire under a new law signed Monday by Gov. James Douglas.
The measure, passed by overwhelming majorities in both the House and Senate earlier this month, is meant to cut down on what its supporters call nuisance lawsuits against the state's 30 or so ranges.
"Shooting sports and recreational target shooting are important aspects of Vermont's heritage and rural lifestyle," Douglas said after signing the bill into law Monday morning at the Barre Fish & Game Club. "Shooting ranges and fish and game clubs play an integral role in fostering these important traditions."
The law specifies that people who live next to already-existing shooting ranges and gun clubs will not be able to successfully sue over noise pollution complaints as long as those ranges and clubs follow all applicable state and local laws.
Supporters of the bill had stressed that an influx of new residents to Vermont from suburban and urban areas had begun filing lawsuits over the sound of gunfire. The law is meant to curb those suits.
"This is a clear case of people moving to the nuisance," Greg Costa, a lobbyist who represents the National Rifle Association in New England said shortly after the bill was passed. "It's a law that will protect gun ranges from punitive lawsuits designed to put them out of business."
The law does protect landowners who live near gun ranges from ranges and clubs who disregard state and local laws, including ones prohibiting shooting after dark.
"The presumption that the range does not constitute a nuisance may be rebutted only by an abutting property owner showing that the activity has a noxious and significant interference with the use and enjoyment of the abutting property," the law says.
The bill was introduced by dozens of lawmakers in order to "prohibit persons who acquire property in the vicinity of the shooting range from bringing a nuisance action against the shooting if the shooting range was established or constructed prior to acquisition of the property."
Evan Hughes, the legislative liaison for the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said the new law creates a new safety net for shooting ranges.
"Our concern is that there really is a need to preserve shooting ranges in Vermont, and the way of life they represent," he said as the bill was in the final stages of passage several weeks ago. "So many people are feeling threatened that their activities are being forced from their traditional locations."
He said that when shooting ranges close, those who use them are more likely to turn to abandoned quarries and open fields to practice their hobby. "That's not in anybody's interest," Hughes said.
Douglas said that he, too, was concerned that lawsuits could lead to closed ranges and less safety.
The law, he said, "is also a reminder of how much we value the Second Amendment of our nation's Constitution and what we're willing to do to protect these important rights."
Contact Darren Allen at [email protected].
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