Backyard gun ranges would be banned in densely-populated residential areas under legislation that cleared a second committee in the Florida House Wednesday, but the bill would not address complaints about constant shooting in one Southwest Florida neighborhood.
The Legislation sponsored by Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Peterburg, prohibits the recreational discharge of firearms on any residential property that is an acre or smaller.
That won’t help residents in North Port Estates – where the lot sizes are three acres – who have protested to city leaders about gun fire noise and safety concerns after a stray bullet broke a window in a home where a grandmother was caring for two children last year.
Rep. Neil Combee, a Polk City Republican who is cosponsoring the bill, said Wednesday that lawmakers are trying to balance public safety with the rights of gun owners and that the law is only meant to apply to “those urban and city-type settings.”
“It’s about density and land use, what drives this,” Combee said, implying that anything larger than an acre is a rural setting and more appropriate for backyard shooting.
State law prevents cities from regulating guns, so it’s up to the Legislature to set the rules for shooting on residential property.
Rouson jumped on the issue last year after a backyard gun range that was set up 15 blocks from his St. Petersburg home.
The bill stalled in the 2015 legislative session but is now moving quickly in both the House and Senate and appears on track to pass in 2016. It easily cleared the House Local and Federal Affairs Committee Wednesday.
Some of the Legislature’s most pro-gun lawmakers are strong advocates for the bill.
“I’m a fool about a gun and have been all my life,” Combee said Wednesday, noting that he has trouble hearing because he often shot guns without ear protection as a child. He still shoots frequently but said “I just don’t see that can be done safely” in a residential area.
