Well today I got my first chance to fire my new toy, an HK USP 9mm Compact Variant 7 but that is beside the point , so I went up to some land that I had shot at before. The area is public land, and has obviously been very well shot out. The ground is covered with shell casings and although it looked cleaner than it did the last time it was easy to tell that the area had been used for shooting for many many years.

I shoot of a magazine of Golden Sabers (gun shop guy gave a couple boxes for free), then load up another magazine of WinCleans (clearance at WalMart, lots of good ammo for free or cheap ), shoot it off, load another and I see a guy walking over the hill. I say to myself darn, or maybe it was #@$%#$^ - I forget, and shoot off one more magazine before he gets there. He comes up and I already know what he wants. First he says "hitting anything" and I think that I may have just found a gun guy - but he proceeds to tell me that his house is nearby and that his mother lives with him and it is "very obnoxious" no hear the gunshots. I feel like telling him to go @#%^ himself - but he is being very polite and says there is a better place to shoot just a bit down the road. I tell him that I don't want to intentionally irritate him and I didn't know there was a better place but I don't want to drive another 5 miles just to go shooting. He tells me it is only half a mile down the road, so I say have a nice day and all that.

So I drive up this road and as soon as I hit five miles with absolutely no place to shoot I turn around and drive back to the same place I was before to shoot. I shoot off a couple boxes but then leave because I just don't want to deal with the hassle that it may cause me.

I was kind of pissed that judging by how far the guys house was from the place I was shooting he started up towards me the second he heard the first shot. He was polite and I hate to be an inconsiderate gun owner that gives us all a bad name but at the same time it was public land that had obviously been used for shooting much longer than his house had been there.

I would hate for it to become an issue where the police come out every time I go shooting because I already have to deal with that at my cabin but I don't feel like driving 25 miles to go shooting.

What should I have done? What would you have done?

Tannerite?

Go class 3!  Its for the kids.

Buy a .50!

In answer to your question.  I would have said that since I am already here, I will stay.  Next time I will look for the other place down the road.  Have a nice day.  Mabe I would ask him if he shoots, try to get him talking about himself, get a read on him.  

Bottom line is that it is public land. You can shoot there if you wish to.

you" I sorry sir I have upset you sir but I was under the impression that this was public land.

him: Well, you are upsetting my mother.

you: Well, i am sorry she is upset but I have no intention of leaving until I am done here.

Something along these lines.

Here in Arizona you have to be a certain distance from an occupied dwelling or something to shoot. It's 1 or 2 miles. I'm not sure. You should check with your local laws.

Quoted: Here in Arizona you have to be a certain distance from an occupied dwelling or something to shoot. It's 1 or 2 miles. I'm not sure. You should check with your local laws.

300 or 500 yards here - he was much further than that.

Quoted: Bottom line is that it is public land. You can shoot there if you wish to. you" I sorry sir I have upset you sir but I was under the impression that this was public land. him: Well, you are upsetting my mother. you: Well, i am sorry she is upset but I have no intention of leaving until I am done here. Something along these lines.

It IS true that I can legally shoot there but my experience is that it can become a serious hassle. When I was 12 years old I started shooting at my cabin, over time people moved into the area and decided that it "was no longer okay to shoot here". The first person that came up to me up there came up to me when I was 16 and shooting with a friend and honestly they scared the shit out of me saying they would call the police. Once I got older (18 ) I realized that I was in the right and started shooting again. Since then I have been threatened with being shot, beaten up, having my cabin vandalized and other things that really scare a 110 pound 18yo kid. I am pretty big now, and a lot more aggressive so I never have the personal threats but every time I go shooting the police will be called immediately. I know this because they will show up in about 45 minutes and that is about how far away we are from the Sheriffs Office. While I feel good about standing up for my rights there it has serious downsides, I know that every time I go shooting I will be interupted by a police officer. I know that every time that PO has to waste three hours of his life and one of mine. And needless to say the neighbors hate my guts.

I have a large piece of property and when we shoot our MP5's or HK53's in FA, a couple of my neighbors get pissy.  Frankly, I was inclined to be considerate before and not shoot as much or often.  However they recently opposed me in a township building application and caused me alot of headache.  Now, i shoot more than I used to and they have called me and I tell them to plan their day around my shooting.  

In regards to your situation, I would tell the guy you are legally within your right to shoot and that you are the prerequisite distance away.  I would further tell him that if it bothers him, hand him a set of foam ear plugs for his mom.

So why didn't the guy ride with you and show you his "great spot"?

Quoted: I have a large piece of property and when we shoot our MP5's or HK53's in FA, a couple of my neighbors get pissy.  Frankly, I was inclined to be considerate before and not shoot as much or often.  However they recently opposed me in a township building application and caused me alot of headache.  Now, i shoot more than I used to and they have called me and I tell them to plan their day around my shooting.   In regards to your situation, I would tell the guy you are legally within your right to shoot and that you are the prerequisite distance away.  I would further tell him that if it bothers him, hand him a set of foam ear plugs for his mom.

Part of me feels like going up there and when he comes out again I will say: "I will make you a deal, you let me shoot from here on out for one hour without saying anything and I will shoot here no more than twice a month, but if you come up to ask me to stop again I am going to measure out the exact legal distance and be up here shooting at least 100 rounds every day for the next month".

Quoted: So why didn't the guy ride with you and show you his "great spot"?

Hmmmm.........   probably because it did not exist.

Maybe I should have slammed another magazine home, dropped the slide and said "get in the car and show me"

Either way you have to give the guy credit for trying to resolve the problem on his own instead of being a panzy and calling the police.

I'd try to help him out just because of that.

Quoted: Either way you have to give the guy credit for trying to resolve the problem on his own instead of being a panzy and calling the police. I'd try to help him out just because of that.

But the problem is that HE MOVED OUT INTO THE WOODS WHERE SHOOTING HAS BEEN TAKING PLACE PROBABLY BEFORE HE WAS BORN!!!!!!!!

Granted, you have to give him credit for having some balls, but still.

Tell him he is lucky that he doesn't live next to the airport.

Quoted: Here in Arizona you have to be a certain distance from an occupied dwelling or something to shoot. It's 1 or 2 miles. I'm not sure. You should check with your local laws.

More than 1 mile from an occupied structure. ARS 13-3101 defines an occupied structure thusly:


"Occupied structure" means any building, object, vehicle, watercraft, aircraft or place with sides and a floor that is separately securable from any other structure attached to it, that is used for lodging, business, transportation, recreation or storage and in which one or more human beings either is or is likely to be present or so near as to be in equivalent danger at the time the discharge of a firearm occurs. Occupied structure includes any dwelling house, whether occupied, unoccupied or vacant.