The Second Amendment explicitly protects the right to keep and bear arms, but there are also some activities that are implicitly protected as well. If we have the right to keep and bear, we must also have the right to acquire those arms, whether it's building our own or purchasing one. And if we have the right to keep and carry a gun, it makes sense that we also have a right to train and practice with our firearms.
Finding a place to do so, though, can sometimes be a challenge. Where I live in rural Virginia, the nearest indoor range is about an hour away. There are no formal outdoor ranges either, though there are plenty of folks who can plink on their own property. That's not an option for every gun owner, however, and businesses or organizations that try to build a new range often have to deal with opposition from nearby property owners.
That's the case for Iowa gun shop Black Flag Arsenal, which is hoping to open up a brand new, 130-acre range called The Vanguard in Madison County. As Axios reports, the plan has drawn complaints from some locals in the area, including the owners of a nearby alpaca farm, who say the range could disrupt their operations.
Aron Shultz says the farm's 30-plus alpacas would adjust to the noise. His real concern is for his family and the weekend visitors who seek the quieter countryside.
- "It would be different if we moved there and there was a shooting range," Aron Shultz tells Axios. "But when it's moving in, we didn't get the choice."
... Shultz says he isn't against guns or a law enforcement training facility, but he said no one reached out to discuss the project before they received the meeting notice.
- "Even the most supportive person, most likely would not be happy about it being in their backyard," he says.
I'm not unsympathetic to Shultz's point of view. When my family and I moved to rural central Virginia in 2012, one of the reasons we settled on our small farm was the peace and quiet. Then, a few years ago, an Amish family purchased the 70-acre property across the street from us. Soon we got a letter from the local Board of Supervisors informing us that the family had applied for a permit to open up a wholesale produce market on the property. Since then, a grocery store, hardware store, general goods store, coffee stand, and a shed construction business have all opened up on that 70 acres; bringing a noticeable increase in traffic and noise, at least during daylight hours.
I knew that each of these businesses would bring changes to my own property, but I have never objected to any of these proposals. First, I'm a big believer in property rights. My neighbors purchased that land, and as far as I'm concerned they have every right to set up as many businesses as they want there. I also understand the tax dollars generated by these stores are important in my rural county, and I think these establishments are beneficial to the community as a whole.
The same is true of the proposed range in Madison County. Yes, a 130-acre range is undoubtably going to bring about some changes, and nearby property owners probably won't be thrilled with all of them. But Schultz may see more visitors to his alpaca farm on the weekend as range-goers look for another activity in the area. The sound from the range can be mitigated through design choices, and with suppressor sales on the rise there will hopefully be a large number of customers of The Vanguard who are shooting suppressed, which will reduce the noise level even further.
On Black Flag Arsenal's Facebook post announcing the range and asking for public support, there are several locals who say they're not anti-gun but they just don't want a range near them. The problem with that position, though, is that there just aren't that many places, even in rural Iowa, where a range won't have any neighbors at all. Someone is going to be impacted when a range opens for business, and if "I was here first and I don't like it" is enough to stop the development of a range then it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, for any new ranges to be established.
Given that we do have a right to train with our firearms, that's problematic from a constitutional standpoint. So long as The Vanguard offers a place for folks to shoot and train responsibly and safely, the supervisors of Madison County should sign off on the zoning application and allow the range to open... regardless of any complaints by nearby alpacas and their owners.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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