York County Board of Supervisors Approves Lafayette Gun Club Request

At it's regular meeting of the county board of supervisors Tuesday night, the application for changes to the Lafayette Gun Club was overwhelmingly approved. This from the Daily Press:

While around 13 people spoke against plans to expand facilities at the Lafayette Gun Club at a York County Planning Commission meeting in July, support for the club during a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday was overwhelming.  

The supervisors unanimously voted to approve the club's plans to build a new 6,000-square-foot club house, 3,800-square-foot picnic pavilion and expand a gravel driveway around one of the outdoor ranges at its 26-acre campus on Dare Road. There are no plans to expand any of the club's firing ranges.

Congratulations to the Lafayette.

York County Repeals Firearm Discharge Restrictions

After 21 speakers shared their views on the subject for almost two hours, a split board voted 3-2 to repeal the county's restrictions on discharging firearms in some 60 neighborhoods but decided to retain a restriction against discharging rifles larger than .22 caliber except for hunting or self defense, or target shooting on firing ranges.

According to the Daily Press, six residents spoke in favor of keeping the gun control rules, nine county residents spoke in favor of the proposal to repeal the discharge ordinance, and the remaining speakers were gun rights advocates who had traveled from around the Commonwealth to urge the repeal of the county's discharge ordinance. The Daily Press made sure to note that the non-county residents openly carried firearms.

There were two 3-2 votes that brought about the final result. In the first, supervisors Thomas Shepperd, Walt Zaremba and Sheila Noll succeeded in protecting the discharge restriction on all guns larger than .22 caliber from the original proposal. Then, in a second vote, supervisors Shepperd, George Hrichak and Don Wiggins voted to throw out the county's ordinance that restricted discharging a firearm in the designated neighborhoods.

A special thanks goes to York-Poquoson Sheriff Danny Diggs County Sheriff who told the board repeatedly that the county restrictions were redundant,unnecessary and hadn't been used.

A copy of the final proposal as passed will be posted as soon as it is available.

York County to Consider Repeal of Local Firearm Ordinances

You may recall that at its June 15th meeting, the York County Board of Supervisors considered restrictions on discharge of firearms in certain neighborhoods. The County Sheriff went on record prior to that meeting that he thought state law should govern and that York County should repeal its local ordinances. Because that was not on the agenda for consideration, the Board instructed the County Administrator to address the issue for a future meeting. The matter will come up for consideration at the July 20th (tomorrow) meeting.

You can see the proposed repeal here.

You can read the County Administrator's memo to the Board explaining the impact of the repeal here.

Gun owners are strongly encouraged to attend the meeting and let your voice be heard. If you cannot attend, please contact your member of the Board of Supervisors and let him or her know you support the repeal of the local discharge ordanances.

What: York County Board of Supervisors Meeting
Where: Board Room, York Hall
When: 6:00 PM (Public Hearing at 7:00 PM where firearm ordanance issue will be discussed)

Board Contacts:

Find your district here.

DISTRICT 1 - Walter C. Zaremba (757) 253-0477 (home), (757) 890-3328 (voice mail), zaremba@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 2 - Sheila S. Noll (757) 877-7790 (home), (757) 890-3329 (voice mail), noll@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 3 - Donald E. WigginsChairman (757) 890-2980 (home), (757) 890-3330 (voice mail), mailto:wiggins@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 4 - George S. HrichakVice Chairman (757) 890-3331 (cell), hrichak@yorkcounty.gov

DISTRICT 5 - Thomas G. Shepperd, Jr., (757) 868-8591(home), (757) 890-3332 (voice mail), shepperd@yorkcounty.gov

York County Proposed Shooting Ordinance Update

VSSA has been working with the County Administrator's office in York County to keep apprised of proposed changes to the county's shooting ordanance. The York County Board of Supervisors held their regularly scheduled meeting last night. As previously posted one of the items on the agenda was a proposal to add several neighborhoods to the list of those where discharge of a firearm would be illegal, repeal the ban on discharge of pneumatic guns, make discharge of a firearm within 300-1000 feet of a school illegal unless verbal notification (not a voice mail) had been given to a school official, and make it clear that discharge would be legal for self-defense.

The Sheriff of York County had made it clear previously that he believed York County should repeal its ordinance and let state law govern as no one had ever been charged under the local ordinance. He restated this belief at last night's meeting. However, as I posted previously, repeal of the current ordinance was not on the agenda and no prior notice of such action had been given to the public. The Board then moved to approve the repeal of the ban on shooting pneumatic guns and made it clear that it is legal to discharge a firearm in defense of property and in self defense. The Board did not add any new neighborhoods to the current list of neighborhoods where discharge is prohibited. The Board also did not approve the ban on on discharge within 300 feet of the perimeter property line of a County school site and a requirement that the school be notified by personal oral communication (not merely by answering machine) of any intention to discharge firearms in the 300 feet to 1,000 feet distant zone around a school site. This is a big win for gun owners and sportsmen in York County.

VSSA will continue to follow actions in York County. It is likely the Board will hear a proposal to repeal the county's current shooting ordinance. If further changes are proposed, they will be posted here and we will notify members of our legislative alert list. If you are not a subscriber, simply click the link to the right and join today.

Correction 6/17/10 - After a more careful review of the document forwarded to me by the County Administrator, the Board did add the new neighborhoods that had been proposed to prohibit discharge of a firearm with the exceptions (law enforcement officers, animal wardens and game wardens in the line of duty, military personnel in the line of duty, the discharge of firearms on firing ranges or target ranges operating in conformance with the county’s zoning regulations, the discharge of a firearm in conjunction with a managed hunt to control the deer population pursuant to Code of Virginia section 29.1-529, and any discharge of a firearm in lawful defense of property or persons or to kill a dangerous or destructive animal).

More on York County Shooting Ordinances

I posted last night that the York County Board of Supervisors will consider amendments to their ordinance dealing with the discharge of a firearm. After further review, the most troubling part of the proposal is the change related to discharge near a school. The draft includes a prohibition of any firearms discharge on property that is within 300 feet of the perimeter property line of a County school site and a requirement that the school be notified by personal oral communication (not merely by answering machine) of any intention to discharge firearms in the 300 feet to 1,000 feet distant zone around a school site. This provision is troubling as it changes the status quo for those who had a home or property in a location and a school was built next door to the home/land owner's property at some point after the owner purchased the property. Of the changes being proposed, this is the part that VSSA opposes the strongest.

Please attend tomorrow night's meeting if you are a York County resident. It should be noted that tomorrow night's meeting is not a discussion of whether to repeal the existing ordinance, it is to approve of disapprove the proposed amendments to the ordinance. Gun owners should focus their comments on the specific parts of the proposals they oppose and not get sidetracked in a discussion of an issue that is not being considered. It is okay to say you oppose the proposed amendments because the Sheriff states he has never charged anyone under the local ordinance but speakers should not get sidetracked in a discussion of repealing the current ordinance because that is not what is being considered tomorrow.

York County Board of Supervisors to Address Shooting Ordinances

You may recall that on May 4th, I posted that the York County Board of Supervisors was having a working session to address shooting ordinances within the county. At that meeting,
the Board reviewed and discussed the status of the various proposed amendments to Sections 16-7 and 16-37 of the County Code and provided direction to staff on the provisions to be included in a revised draft that has been scheduled for public hearing at the June 15th meeting.

The Board is scheduled to take up specific recommendations that came out of that meeting at their meeting on June 15th. There will be a citizen comment period from 6 PM to 7 PM and the ordinance will be addressed by the Board after 7 PM in it's regular place on the agenda.

The ordinance in question can be found here. An explanation of the various changes in the proposal can be found here.

In short, the proposals restrict discharge of firearms and in some cases air rifles, in designated areas with some limited exceptions. The proposal also changes the distance from which a firearm may be discharged near a school.

The exceptions include:

• in connection with a managed hunt to control the deer population;
• in defense of one’s life; and
• to kill a dangerous or destructive animal (note: this provision was revised to drop the word “wild”, thus allowing it to apply to any dangerous or destructive animal, whether wild or domestic).

According to an email alert sent out by VCDL, the York County Sheriff believes that the county should scrap all of it's shooting ordinances and let state law govern.

Gun owners that live in York County should attend the Board Meeting in Tuesday night and let your voice be heard.

The meeting is being held Tuesday night beginning at 6:00 PM. Board meetings are held at York Hall, 301 Main Street, Yorktown, VA.