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12 <br />Mr. Tilley asked about the current noise ordinance. Mr. Harvey saidthe County <br />has a noise ordinance enforced by the Sheriff’s Department. Chief Sykes said that <br />firearms are exempt from the County’s noise ordinance. They are exempt, he said, <br />because there are different kinds of shooting: sustained shooting, 2-3 shots heard at <br />2:00 AM, 500 shots heard before 10:00. So, gunfire noise is a lot more difficult to <br />measure than, say, a loud party, he said. For a party we can take a reading at the <br />property line, talk with the party hosts, and ask them to turn down the volume. <br />Ninety-nine percent of the time that works. It is rare for us to issue a criminal <br />citation for violation of the noise ordinance. <br />Mr. Tilley asked if there were a way to somehow tweak the noise ordinance to <br />include gunfire. Chief Sykes saidhe thinks there is, and that the wording for that <br />should come from the County Attorney. <br />Mr. Tesoro saidone of the “problems” raised during the Committee’s June meeting <br />was “blurry line between commercial and private ranges.” Now that we have heard <br />from Mr. Harvey, he said, we can eliminate that from our list. There is a distinct <br />definition of a commercial range. There are several ideas from the June list we can <br />eliminate, he said. Dr. Arvik saidhe did not have enough information to cross <br />“blurry line” from the list. However, he said, I do not think it is the number one <br />problem. The number one problem, Dr. Arvik said, is shooting that is clearly risky <br />but no damage or injury has occurredthat would allowlaw enforcement to act. <br />Mr. Hunnellsaidhe does not consider shooting that is not causing actual damage <br />to be problematic. We already have a rule on the books against shooting without <br />regard for others, he said. Dr. Arvik said that no such rule exists.Mr. Hunnellsaid <br />that Officer Orr had referred to such a rule. Dr. Arvik said that Officer Orr’s <br />jurisdiction is hunting; no such rule exists apart from hunting. Mr. Hunnellsaid <br />that the Lenoir County language, which applies to situations apart from hunting, <br />uses language that is vague and unenforceable. Dr. Arvik saidwe can develop <br />language that is not vague. <br />Mr. Hunnellis correct, said Dr. Arvik, that perceptions are critical to these issues. <br />There have not been any injuries for a long time. But as density in the county <br />increases then it is possible something will happen. And people are becoming <br />concerned. That’s their perception. We have to do something about that. We have <br />to have something that will calm down the distrust of government and shooters. <br />We have a problem in Orange County, because the perception is the reality. There <br />are people who don’t understand the difference between gun safety and wanton <br />and careless use of firearms. We’ve made no effort to teach them other than the ads