Explosive targets are now prohibited at outdoor gun ranges in Cumberland County.
The county Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 on Monday to pass the ban. The vote was a win for board Chair Kirk deViere, who spearheaded the ordinance that had previously failed twice to win enough votes from commissioners.The ban applies to targets that explode when they are shot by a bullet or otherwise receive a high velocity impact from another object.
People who violate the new ordinance can be convicted of a misdemeanor and fined $250 for the first offense, and $500 if they do it again.
In addition to enacting the ban on exploding targets, the commissioners increased the distance that a shooter’s intended target must be from nearby buildings, from 200 to 225 yards. For example, a hunter must make sure a deer he plans to shoot is at least 225 yards away from a home or other building, unless the hunter has permission from the people in the building.
The new regulations apply to areas outside the city and town limits in Cumberland County.
DeViere and commissioners Jeannette Council, Veronica Jones, Pavan Patel and Marshall Faircloth voted in favor of the ordinance. Commissioners Henry Tyson and Glenn Adams voted against it.
Exploding targets
Exploding targets are made by combining two chemicals that are inert until they are mixed together and receive a powerful impact. Tannerite is a well-known brand of the binary explosive target mixture, but there are other vendors.
Some shooters put the chemicals in objects they want to blow up.
There have been incidents of such explosions causing fires, and shrapnel from the explosions injuring or killing bystanders. News accounts say a man in Georgia in 2016 lost his leg when he put a binary explosive into a lawn mower, shot the mower, and a hunk of metal from the exploding mower struck him.
DeViere said at his monthly news conference on June 2 that he had received complaints from residents about exploding targets being used near their homes. The explosions are loud and disruptive, he said.
Adams questioned the proposal on Monday, as he had on June 2. At the two meetings, Adams expressed concerns about infringing on people’s Second Amendment rights to use firearms, and said 25 yards seemed like an arbitrary figure to add to the 200 yard minimum target zone distance that was already on the books.
Third time is the charm
The commissioners had been developing the explosive targets ordinance for months, and deViere attempted to pass it on May 19. Since the 6-1 vote was not unanimous, by law it was not enacted, and could not be enacted until approved again at a later meeting.
On June 2, the vote was 3-3, with Council absent. The ordinance did not pass, but it also was not specifically rejected.
DeViere brought it back on Monday, where the vote was 5-2.
Over the course of the three votes since May 19, Commissioner Tyson switched from favoring the ordinance on May 19 to opposing it on June 2 and on Monday. Commissioner Patel switched from favoring the ordinance on May 19 to opposing it on June 2 to favoring it again on Monday.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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