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Residents urge commissioners to limit noise at Fuller Mill Road gun range
Summary
Three residents asked the Randolph County Board of Commissioners to require noise mitigation or ordinance changes for a privately operated shooting range on Fuller Mill Road, saying gunfire has repeatedly disturbed nearby homes.
Three residents told the Randolph County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 8 that noise from the Fuller Mill Road shooting range has disrupted life on nearby properties and asked the board to act.
Amy Wang, a Fuller Mill Road neighbor, said the range’s owner has told neighbors the facility has existed since 1979 but that satellite photos show permanent berms and targets were not built until February 2001. “This is not a Second Amendment issue. We are simply wanting some peace and quiet on our own properties,” Wang said. She asked the county to require sound barriers or other mitigation and said attempts to engage the gun club directly had failed.
Isaac Hoffman said neighbors have repeatedly asked the board to place noise restrictions on the range and noted other municipalities in the county prohibit discharge of firearms except at designated ranges. “Randolph County’s own planning board found a political will to change the UDO in 2021 to restrict gun ranges to areas zoned heavy industrial,” Hoffman said. He asked the board to “find the political will” to limit the range’s impact on more than 70 residents he said are affected.
Fritz Wang said neighbors are not asking the county to close the range or restrict hours, weapons or membership; instead, they want a limit on the noise level. “We are only asking you to place a limit on the noise level coming from the gun range,” he said, and offered to provide a draft UDO amendment for the board’s consideration.
Commissioner Kidd responded that he did not have the will to add new regulations to a legal business and that imposing more restrictions could have unintended effects elsewhere in the county. “I don’t feel like it’s the role of government to step in and go, ‘well, I don’t like what he’s doing. Let’s make a law against it,’ ” Kidd said.
No formal vote or motion to change county code was taken during the meeting. The speakers framed the issue as a neighborhood noise complaint and urged either voluntary mitigation (sound barriers) or a code change; at least one commissioner expressed reluctance to pursue new regulatory limits on an existing legal entity.
The Fuller Mill Road remarks came during the meeting’s public comment period; several commissioners acknowledged having visited the area and hearing neighbors’ concerns. Commissioners referenced existing UDO language restricting gun ranges to heavy industrial zones (discussed previously by the planning board in 2021) as part of the background to the conversation.
If the board wishes to pursue an ordinance change, the transcript shows no motion to direct staff to draft an amendment or to refer the matter to the planning department. Neighbors said they will share a proposed UDO change with county staff.
