East Greenbush considers shooting range safety measure
Posted at: 06/22/2012 5:54 PM
By: Dan Bazile
|
|
|
|
EAST GREENBUSH -- For Robyn Burke-Dollard, the piece of mind, safety and quiet atmosphere she expected at her home tucked away in a rural area in East Greenbush, turned out to be anything but.
"It makes you jump. You're hoping it's not coming in your direction," Dollar said.
She was talking about gun shots. One of them did come in the home's direction back in January. The stray bullet came through the kitchen where the Dollards and their kids spend a lot of time together. It then struck the family's television set. Luckily no one was home.
"Does there have to be a second time where somebody does get hurt that things will change," she said.
Police say the bullet came from an outdoor shooting range just past the Dollard's backyard. But the shooters were within their rights since they were firing within 500 feet from houses. Dollard and her neighbors complained to town officials.
"The folks that were involved came en mass to one of our meetings after your station carried the story," said town board member Ginny O'Brien.
O'Brien added that the board is now trying to figure out its next course of action on a proposal to regulate outdoor shooting ranges. The family was happy the town responded to their emotional plea. But now they feel they're in the middle of a gun control issue where the opposition is fierce. A public hearing this week brought out members of the NRA and gun owners to speak against the measure.
"We really need to look at this very intently to process and perhaps rethink where we're going," O'Brien said.
Dollard believes the proposed law isn't going anywhere because those who oppose it have a big voice.
"With the meeting the other night. There's just no chance that any legislation will be passed whatsoever," she said.
But Dollard said she doesn't want to take away anyone's Second Amendment rights. She just wants a safer distance for outdoor shooting ranges near residential neighborhoods.
