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I have some land that I started shooting on. I also have a "lovely" hypocritical neighbor that calls the cops on me everytime I go and shoot at my land. This neighbor also shoots on his land. When the cops, county, come they see we are being responsible and then they leave. This has been going on for over a year now. In the meantime to try and show that we are being peaceful we built a berm, before we were shooting into the side of a hill, and the berm is what we shoot at now. I had multiple Sheriffs say they wished everybody did that, build the berm. So this last saturday I had some friends over the police officer/sheriff(not sure what to call them, county sheriff) came as usual and we chit chatted and again he commended us on the berm and then said he needed to talk to the neighbor. My friends were there still shooting and I had to leave for a niece's Bday. As I was pulling out of the property I noticed the cop leaving the neighbors land. Something happened and not sure what it is. The demanor of the sheriff was different. My dad was going to stay and I asked if needed to stay, he said no, so I left.

The officer than called other there and they told everybody there they had to leave. So on Monday my dad called the Terry Box, County Sheriff, and asked what was going on. Terry said to call the Fire Marshal. From what my dad told me I think they they we are running an illegal range. The Fire Marshal also said that on our land we can only have family members shoot on it. No more friends?!


So where can I find the laws that pertain to this situation and who can I contact about getting some advise on how to pursue this?

IANAL, but it seems to me that private property is just that, private. As long as you aren't charging, and as long as these are friends & family, I don't see the problem.

Were it me I would asking Mr. County Fire Marshall for his legal basis to support his position. If he does not have one, ignore him.

Ask him to cite the statute or regulation he believes applies.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen people protest that something pertaining to firearms was forbidden because "it's against the law!" However, when pressed to cite the applicable statute or regulation, you get the gaping fish-mouth syndrome.

This seems fishy to me...but then again I just found out about the 10 acre rule on my dad's little 2 acre plot....

IANAL, but I think the Fire Marshal is blowing smoke.
§ 229.002. Regulation of Discharge of Weapon

A municipality may not apply a regulation relating to the discharge of firearms or other weapons in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality or in an area annexed by the municipality after September 1, 1981, if the firearm or other weapon is:

(1) a shotgun, air rifle or pistol, BB gun, or bow and arrow discharged:


(A) on a tract of land of 10 acres or more and more than 150 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and

(B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract; or
(2) a center fire or rim fire rifle or pistol of any caliber discharged:


(A) on a tract of land of 50 acres or more and more than 300 feet from a residence or occupied building located on another property; and

(B) in a manner not reasonably expected to cause a projectile to cross the boundary of the tract.

TeXJ:

I trust you'll be having a TX CHL Shoot at your property in the *very* near future!

property is in County, and that's County Fire Marshal ... not a municipality right?

Fire Marshalls and Game Wardens seem to me to be the two most powerful people with a badge and unfortunately it can be a difficult fight if you take them on.

BTW... Do you know the difference between a Fire Marshall and God? God doesn't think he's a Fire Marshall!

Good luck and hope you are able to work it out with your neighbor.

TeXJ wrote: . . . The Fire Marshal also said that on our land we can only have family members shoot on it. No more friends?!

I would be tempted to introduce him to my cousin Jim, and my other cousin Jim, and my cousin Eve, and my cousin . . .

rtschl wrote:Fire Marshalls and Game Wardens seem to me to be the two most powerful people with a badge and unfortunately it can be a difficult fight if you take them on.

BTW... Do you know the difference between a Fire Marshall and God? God doesn't think he's a Fire Marshall!

Good luck and hope you are able to work it out with your neighbor.

There's an easy solution to that.......if the neighbor calls the law on you again, you start calling the law on him every time you hear gunfire coming from his property. Every time. If he complains, tell him what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and you'll stop calling out the cops when HE stops calling out the cops.

The Annoyed Man wrote:

rtschl wrote:Fire Marshalls and Game Wardens seem to me to be the two most powerful people with a badge and unfortunately it can be a difficult fight if you take them on.

BTW... Do you know the difference between a Fire Marshall and God? God doesn't think he's a Fire Marshall!

Good luck and hope you are able to work it out with your neighbor.

There's an easy solution to that.......if the neighbor calls the law on you again, you start calling the law on him every time you hear gunfire coming from his property. Every time. If he complains, tell him what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and you'll stop calling out the cops when HE stops calling out the cops.

This might work....as long as none of the parties involved are named Hatfield or McCoy!

jimlongley wrote:

TeXJ wrote: . . . The Fire Marshal also said that on our land we can only have family members shoot on it. No more friends?!

I would be tempted to introduce him to my cousin Jim, and my other cousin Jim, and my cousin Eve, and my cousin . . .

It's a family reunion... All of us shooting today are related to/descendants of Noah's so, it's all family here today.

Wouldn't the owner of the property need to be there when the shooting is going on? I don't know, but it would make sense to me.

I probably would call every time the neighbor shoots and I would also start going out and shooting every day myself. Maybe only five rounds, but every day if I had the ammo.

I sure hate hearing this sort of stuff. Always some rule, regulation, law, ordnance, etc. that someone is always willing to (mis)use to their advantage to cause someone else a problem. Just to clarify, though, that 10 and 50 acre rule stuff doesn't apply if its not in a municipality, right? That is, if you aren't in any sort of a city limits? What is the definition of "extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality"? These are the kinds of things that become hard to understand just when they apply, to me at least.