Loudoun County Proposing to Ban Hunting and Shooting

Tonight (Thursday, June 21), the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors (BoS) will consider a proposal from Supervisor Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg) to amend the Loudoun County ordinance dealing with the discharge of firearms.  If this ordinance passes, it will effect both hunting and shooting in the county and have serious consequences.

Supervisor Umstattd is overreacting to a rare incident in Loudoun where a firearm was discharged carelessly and resulted in minor property damage.

Discharging a firearm is always a serious matter but if the Board reacts hastily to an isolated incident, that would be a serious mistake.  Unfortunately that may be what is about to happen in Loudoun County.

The proposal would ban shooting if there is another occupied structure within a half-mile of where you are shooting. That would pretty much ban shooting in the entire county!

You can click here to view Umstattd's proposed ordinance.

You can click here to view a review of current ordinances, laws, and the single incident

Loudoun was once the locality with the Commonwealth's best deer hunting.  Increased development has put a large portion of the county off limits to hunting with firearms, resulting in a large over-population of deer.  Imagine what banning the use of firearms in the entire county for harvesting deer will do to exacerbate that problem.  Just a couple of the effects of deer overpopulation are property loss due to auto collisions, which also sometimes result in the loss of human life.  Lyme disease is also a by-product of deer overpopulation, and that is already at epidemic levels in Loudoun.  Such a policy change could cause Lyme cases to increase further.

In addition to the proposed ordinance, the Board may also consider other changes.

If you live in Loudoun County, it is strongly suggested you attend this meeting. The meeting starts at 5 pm at:

Loudoun County Government Center
Board Room, First Floor
1 Harrison Street, S.E.
Leesburg, VA 20177

Also, please email BOS@Loudoun.gov  to make your opposition known to all supervisors, even if you cannot attend tonight's meeting.