[Rottie]

UPDATED 9-15-11!!!

News story on WBTV tonight at 11PM, Lancaster Cty is wanting to ban anyone from shooting on their property due to a horse being shot in a pasture. WBTV is pushing this to happen. I'm mounting a campaign to write the Sheriff in protest of a change. If what the media presents comes to pass, a person wouldn't be able to hunt or target shoot on private land in Lancaster county SC. Also from the media story, no one really knows who is responsible for the death of the animal. Write the Sheriff and let him know to prosecute offenders under current law and not punish the shooters who are responsible and obey the law! Defend your 2A rights!! Please call and write to Sherriff Faile today!!

General Contact Information

SheriffFaile@lacoso.org

WBTV Story : http://www.wbtv.com/story/15245989/no-rules-for-home-shooting-ranges-in-lancaster-county

Lancaster County SC site: http://lacoso.net/index.html

 

[-06]

Just sent an E (to the sheriff) your way. Have a bud just north of town off Zion Church Rd and would hate to see shooting/hunting stopped. Used to hunt East of Lancaster a bit with an old friend. He used my stand and got a ten pointer as it crossed a sand bar--and then had the nerve to rub it in--lol.

 

[old_skool_fox]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would think you want to contact the city/county officials instead of the Sheriff. The Sheriff doesn't make laws he just enforces them. You need to influence the group that has the capability of implementing that law.

 

[-06]

Most any public official can introduce motions via sitting members and in the case of the sheriff-he carries a lot of clout. If he pushes for it to become law then it might happen. This is the reply from my E to him.
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There is State laws that govern hunting so you don’t have to worry about me trying to eliminate that and for folks shooting a weapon on their property I don’t have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is folks being irresponsible and not having any regards for others when it comes to not preparing a safe place or environment to shoot in and the noise that may restrict another home owner from enjoying their own property.
I will be working with council to see if they will adopt some kind of ordinance that will allow folks to shoot responsible and be considerate of others when it comes to the noise. I want people to be able to hunt, and target practice but it must be done in a safe manner where others don’t have to worry about themselves or animals being harmed. Thanks for sharing your concern and I don’t think you have anything to worry about.
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If I read between the lines of what he is saying then anytime a "neighbor" complains you may have a court order keeping you from ever firing another round on your property. This thing needs to be strenously opposed.

 

[SPST]

Whoever shot the guys horse should have his gun(s) taken away. They obviously don't know how to shoot safely. I'm glad it was a horse and not someone's child out playing on their farm and they get shot by some moron that doesn't care what is behind their target.
These are the kind of people that give responsible gun owners a bad rap.

 

[CantikFotos]

Rumor in Lancaster is that the horse was immediately buried and there were no bullets removed for ballistics tests.

 

[JohnnyB]

Was this the case where the horse was shot many times? It didn't really sound like an "accidential" shooting to me the way it was described......maybe the horse owner ticked off the wrong person? Horrible thing either way

 

[Rottie]

06, you are correct in your reading between the lines IMO. I know I'm in a very rural area, My house is over 700ft off the road and I've got 15 acres. I target practice on the back of my property where literally there isn't a house or person with in miles. And I'm not exaggerating. I had some neighbors in rental trailers out close to the road and about a quarter mile up the state road from my place. I've had the cops called on me more than once for target practice. The last time, the officer was really good. One of the trailers a quarter mile away called and reported I was firing a 50 cal toward their house and bullets were whizzing over their heads. The responding officer had a good laugh. I'm a 5'4 woman who was shooting .22's at cans on the ground, plinking on a weekend afternoon. I can see how the wrong officer responding with the wrong law on the books could eliminate peoples rights to shoot on their own property. I also am very sorry the horse was shot and killed. I also smell something fishy about the report. According to what I heard the horse had multiple shotgun wounds. The animal was immediately buried. Not to mention, the end of the said range from news report is about 100 ft away from the start of the pasture and the horse was said to be found out in the middle of the pasture. And if you watch the news report, it is pretty obvious there is an on going neighbor feud between the accused and the horse owner. Not to mention, last time I checked it was already illegal to shoot toward someones home or property. And Lancaster county has a noise ordinance on the books already to protect the enjoyment of your own property. I think existing laws need to be enforced, some police work needs to happen to try to find the criminal who shot the horse and prosecute him. The rest of Lancaster county doesn't need to be punished and we really don't need any additional laws.

 

[Rottie]

New update folks: as of 5PM today. Well, looks like we are getting this rammed thru and into law. According to the WBTV 5 PM news, its going up to the county commission next meeting. Already drafted and scheduled. Thanks Lancaster County. Now we will only be allowed to hunt with license and permission from a land owner or discharge a firearm in self defense or be a police officer. No more target shooting in the county! Here is the link to the story. Folks we got to start speaking up or they will take our rights by one way or another!!

Link: http://lancaster-chester.wbtv.com/news/news/67113-shooting-death-family-horse-sparks-change

 

[mekender]

Hopefully we will get preemption laws like the one that just passed in FL next year. That will get rid of this crap.

 

[CantikFotos]

Time for Lancaster to cut off the panhandle (aka New Jersey South) and give it to Mecklenburg County. For free.

 

[lcp3z28]

Does anybody know if or how we can fight this? As in who to contact or when these meetings are and is the public allowed to attend. I've never had a purposed law or whatever this is bother me like this one. Seems that they want to take my right to shoot in a safe and responsible manner because the person who supposedly shot this horse was either unsafely target practicing or more likely hit his target and wanted to shoot the horse. Either way its B.S to think that you can take away the rest of our rights because of this.

 

[Rottie]

Folks, the law is supposed to be taken up at the next meeting of the Lancaster County Commission according to WBTV not on my side. That meeting according to their schedule is supposed to take place on the last Thursday of the month. I'm trying now to confirm that and get a copy of the proposed law. If I get it, I'll post it up for all of you to read. Show up at the meeting, speak up against this, I know I'm going to do my best to be there.and speak. Lancaster county has a website and I've been hunting for any info I can find. I moved here to get away from this kind of BS. I am also getting some petitions put together to get out there as well, the horse owners are putting them out everywhere to sign in support of this. Any gun store, any one who sells guns or ammo should have a petition to oppose this law. This not only is taking away peoples rights as property owners, but cutting into the profit for businesses who carry ammo and guns! Let's get this defeated before it becomes a law!!!

 

[Rottie]

Update!!! 9-16

Well, got some good news. We aren't out of the woods completely but we do have some better news. At 2:22 this afternoon, WBTV had to update their story. I emailed the Sheriff this morning and he sent me a copy of his draft that he is working on. He is planning to ask for restrictions on shooting but does not say he wants it banned. The draft reads as such. And he asked for feedback on the proposal. Now I'm going to follow thru and give some feedback I have as well as continue communication. He stated he was going to issue a press release to the media to correct the WBTV report. WBTV changed their story to reflect the actual draft proposal. As I said before, WBTV, NOT ON OUR SIDE! I'll post up the draft and my response to the Sheriff shortly.

 

[Cooter007]

Rottie Please keep me updated. I will show up at "the" meeting, "a" meeting, where ever I need to be. It is time for people to stand up and stop government bureaucracy.

 

[CantikFotos]

I don't understand why our wonderful sheriff isn't using the present laws to handle this.......

ARTICLE 7.

TRESPASSES AND UNLAWFUL USE OF PROPERTY OF OTHERS

SECTION 16-11-510. Malicious injury to animals and other personal property.

(A) It is unlawful for a person to wilfully and maliciously cut, shoot, maim, wound, or otherwise injure or destroy any horse, mule, cattle, hog, sheep, goat, or any other kind, class, article, or description of personal property, or the goods and chattels of another.

(B) A person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a:

(1) felony and, upon conviction, must be fined in the discretion of the court or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, if the injury to the property or the property loss is worth ten thousand dollars or more;

(2) felony and, upon conviction, must be fined in the discretion of the court or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, if the injury to the property or the property loss is worth more than two thousand dollars but less than ten thousand dollars;

(3) misdemeanor triable in magistrates court or municipal court, notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 22-3-540, 22-3-545, 22-3-550, and 14-25-65, if the injury to the property or the property loss is worth two thousand dollars or less. Upon conviction, the person must be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned, not more than thirty days, or both.

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t16c011.htm

 

[Rottie]

Excellent question Cantikfotos!! There is a lot about this that isn't quite right. For instance, why does someone with a half million dollar house in Ballantyne claim to live in a 1400 SQ Ft house in Lancaster County? And why when questioned in a message forum they loose their cool, start yelling at the questioner, start throwing around statements about extremists then erase several posts they made after the fact? Can't even question what someone is trying to ram down the throat of every resident in a county anymore without being called extremist. This smells of gun control nuts to me.

 

[Rottie]

Quick question for you folks.....I've been told the Sheriff is wanting to put in a regulation similar to other regulations in surrounding counties. However, I can find no regulations in surrounding counties on shooting on your own property. Does anyone know of regulations in their county that restricts shooting on your property at all as long as you don't have people/property behind your target?

 

[CantikFotos]

According to the WBTV report, the new regulation was supposed to be on the county council agenda Monday, Sept 26........well......looks like it's not going to happen. I just checked the agenda at:

http://mylancastersc.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={A2E5F2E6-D8C0-4233-A180-C68374867E8F}

And it isn't on it. Rumor has it there is absolutely no support for it.

 

[Rottie]

I checked the same today myself. I didn't see it on the agenda either. I did see where where our boy from Meck NC spoke to request this new law at the 8-22 meeting from their minutes in the agenda. I doubt there is a desire in Lancaster Cty to have a regulation much the same as York County or Mecklenburg Cty NC. I'm just now really digging into this, but we do have laws to prosecute reckless behavior. Still gonna fight it with a petition and speaking up. I've already sent the County Commission and the Sheriff my comments.