Maine Governor Signs Bill Protecting Shooting Ranges

By Chris Eger

Lawmakers felt the existing 100-yard setback on buildings built next to shooting range properties could be used to shut down existing ranges. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill into law last week that extends legal protections for shooting ranges in Maine when it comes to encroaching new development.
The measure, LD 79, was supported by a host of Second Amendment groups and gun clubs to address what lawmakers saw as a pitfall in the state’s 100-yard setback requirements for buildings adjacent to established shooting ranges. Sponsors said there had been cases where individuals used the current law as a tool for shutting down established gun clubs, citing an incident in which a property owner built a cabin in 2017 within 100 yards of a neighboring range then successfully campaigned to close the 48-year-old club as unsafe.
“Clearly the law is set up to protect the public from the potential hazard of living near a gun range,” said state Rep. William D. Pluecker in testimony to lawmakers. “Equally clear, though, is that the current law is being used to shutter ranges, and is a tool being abused by abutting property owners to infringe upon the rights of gun ranges to operate.”
The

Source: Guns.com