Meeting Notes 080116 - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 Zero tolerance for alcoholMr. Hunnellsuggested that the ordinance set a standard consistent with the State impairment level of .08blood alcohol concentration. Mr. Webster replied that no one who has been drinking in any amount should be handling firearms. It has been proven that people can be impaired at .03, he said, even though the legal limit for driving in North Carolina is .08. A zero tolerance also would be an easier standard to enforce: the officer would only need to smell alcohol on the shooter, or usethe Preliminary Breath Test deviceto determine the presence of alcohol without needing to record measured levels. Breath levels can dissipate in minutes, he said. The officer’s write-up need only be “yes” or “no”with regard to the presence of alcohol. Mr. Hunnell replied that with zero tolerance Orange County would be creating a new legal limit even though the State “with all of its greater resources”has established that .08 is the definition of impairment. No, said Mr. Webster, that definition is for driving. In Orange County under current law, Chief Sykes added, having any level of alcohol while hunting is illegal. In reply to a question from Mr. Tesoro, Mr. Roberts said that the zero tolerance for drinking while hunting in Orange County is a good ordinance,authorized by the State of North Carolina. Mr. Tilley concluded that it would not be a new standard if an Orange County firearms safety ordinancetolerated no alcohol level, because the standard already exists in the hunting ordinance. In reply to a question from Commissioner McKee, Mr. Roberts said that Orange County would not need state authorization to adopt zero tolerance in a county firearms safety ordinance. Mr. Roberts noted that Chief Sykes had also asked for tools in the ordinance to enforce the zero tolerance, such as a field sobriety test. We would like to be able to use any kind of valid observation to enforce the ordinance, Chief Sykes replied. He also asked the Committee to consider expanding the restriction from alcohol alone to any impairing substance. Commissioner Jacobs said that the hunting ordinance prohibits alcohol or any impairing substance, and Chief Sykes read the concurring language from the hunting ordinance. “Impairing substance” is already defined in the North Carolina General Statutes, and a reference to that definition is in the County’s hunting ordinance. Mr. Tilley supported using that same language from the hunting ordinance in the firearms safety ordinance. NoiseMr. Tilley proposed consideration of a paragraph from the Chatham County noise ordinance that says a complaint from a law enforcement officer would be sufficient evidence that a person’s shooting is unreasonably loud and disturbing. This would address the persistent, annoying, aggravating shooter, he said. Mr. Hunnell objected. The language means I can’t shoot my shotgun on my 26 acres because some neighbor feels it’s too loud, he said. I typically have a couple of young people over to my place, take them out, educate them, and shoot skeet for 30 minutes to an hour. I have two neighbors that fall into the category of the shooter that’s behind Sara’s house, he said. On Sundays, their shooting is constant. But we live in the country, and they have every right to shoot on their property. The language cited by Mr. Tilley is too general, he said. It means that a deputy will be required to enforce against anyone who fires a shotgun--say, every 8 seconds or 10 seconds or 20 seconds--after a neighbor complains about it.Chief Sykes said that a deputy has discretion, and would enforce against the shooter only when there is nothing else the deputy can do. Enforcement will be one of the last things we will use where aneighbor is complaining about noise from another neighbor, he said. The officer would first make a professional determination about whether the gunfire is unreasonably loud and disturbing. No one on our force would arrive on the scene, hear the noise, determine right away that the shooting is unreasonably loud and