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12 <br /> <br />Larry Roberts –Lives on St. Mary’s Road. Attended the Board of County Commissioner’s <br />public meeting in Chapel Hill a few months ago and recognized the strong feelings in the <br />community on this issue; was hopeful a committee would be put together to make some good <br />recommendations to solve some of the issues. Concerned early this evening that the Committee <br />was not in agreement as to its mission, but Commissioner McKee cleared it up well. The mission <br />of this Committee is not about firearms restriction; it is about noise and safety. You need to be <br />careful about defining noise and safety. It is not the noise on the property of the shooter and it is <br />not the safety of the person using the firearm. It is safety and noise off the property. Noise from <br />the firearms really is nothing more than being a bad neighbor, if you are causing a problem with <br />someone who adjoins your property. Being a bad neighbor is very subjective. After the public <br />meeting in Chapel Hill I made contact with six of my eight neighbors, he said. I asked if my <br />shooting bothered them. Five of the six said that it did not. I explained that we shoot on my <br />property, we shoot at targets and clay pigeons, and we hunt deer, doves and coyotes. We shoot <br />pistols, shot guns, and rifles. I told them that if what we’re doing bothers you, then please let me <br />know. One neighbor said she was concerned about the proximity of our shooting to their house. <br />We are 85 yards away. I welcomed her to view where I shoot, and after she did she said she no <br />longer had any problems with our shooting. As I met my neighbors I told them we will hunt (and <br />when we do so we will follow all the regulations with regard to hours, etc.) and we will shoot at <br />targets. Second, no projectile will cross my property line. I will not allow anyone to shoot on my <br />property whose projectile will cross my property line. I will make that commitment to you. And <br />if the noise is a problem, please let me know. A big part of it is being a good neighbor. <br />Remember, if you start dealing with the 1% who are not responsible then you are going to upset <br />the 99% who are. Your approach has got to be balanced. I’m not sure my neighborscan <br />determine what noise is OK and what noise is not OK. The Committee is in a tough position. <br />And without measuring the noise it will be hard to hold enforcement up in a court of law. I had a <br />neighbor who complained about me a few years ago. The complaint was that we shot deer that <br />was running across their yard. We were shooting out of a deer stand 180 yards away from their <br />house, using a shotgun. Obviously it was not a valid complaint. Here’s my point: it is going to <br />be really difficult to set a guideline for noise, to measure it, and to give citations based on it. If a <br />projectile crosses a property line then the owner of the property from which it came is guilty. Not <br />necessarily the shooter, because it can be hard to determine who the shooter is, but the property <br />owner is guilty. To Commissioner Jacobs, I wonder if the size of a lot needs to be 1-acre or 1.5- <br />acres; I don’t know. I would not want to be living next door to someone living on one acre who <br />is shooting even a small caliber firearm on a regular basis. <br />The Committee adjourned at approximately 9:30pm