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<br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: September 10, 2020 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 1 <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Additional Discussion on Potential Regulation of the Discharge of Firearms in <br />Areas of the County with High Residential Unit Density <br /> <br />DEPARTMENT: County Attorney <br /> <br /> <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br /> <br />A) Maps (1-7) Showing Housing <br />Density <br />B) State Laws Limiting Local <br />Government Firearms Regulation <br />C) Prior Durham County Ordinance <br />D) Current Durham County Ordinance <br />E) Current Orange County Ordinance <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> <br />John Roberts, 919-245-2318 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />PURPOSE: To discuss options related to the regulation of firearms discharge in limited <br />urbanized areas of the County. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: This topic was briefly discussed by the 2016 Firearms Safety Committee at its <br />meetings, but did not result in any substantive recommendations to the Board of Commissioners <br />in that Committee’s final recommendation. The proposed recommendations from the <br />Committee included a recommendation that the Code of Ordinances be amended to prohibit the <br />discharge of firearms while an individual is impaired, required discharged projectiles remain on <br />the property on which they are discharged, and individuals discharging firearms maintain <br />adequate backstops. These recommendations were adopted as shown in Attachment E. <br /> <br />The Board of Commissioners revisited this issue in September 2019 and directed the County <br />Attorney to bring back additional information at a 2020 work session including a map showing <br />more roads, a map showing subdivisions, the current Orange County ordinance, maps of the <br />extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) areas including subdivisions, and Geographic Information <br />System enlarged maps of larger subdivisions. North Carolina General Statute 153A-129 <br />specifically authorizes counties to regulate the discharge of firearms (Attachment B). Other <br />statutes limit the extent to which counties may regulate firearms in general and the discharge of <br />firearms, particularly with respect to the discharge of firearms on “sport shooting ranges.” <br /> <br />Ordinances of this type are generally prospective only. In response to a question from <br />Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford about retroactive applicability at the September 2019 work <br />session, the County Attorney indicated that an ordinance adopted to promote gun safety in <br />urbanized areas could retroactively apply to shooting ranges. This response was overly broad <br />and did not specify the strict limitations of retroactive enforcement. Retroactive enforcement <br />1