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Commissioners debate draft gun-range ordinance; staff to return with revised text
Summary
Board members discussed minimum lot sizes, setback distances, exemptions and whether indoor ranges should be included in a proposed ordinance regulating commercial gun ranges; staff were asked to draft amendments and include explicit grandfathering language.
Hart County commissioners spent an extended portion of Tuesday's meeting debating a draft ordinance to regulate commercial gun ranges and gun-club operations.
Commissioner Bennett introduced the ordinance, noting county counselor Kim Hookboth had prepared the draft. The board focused on two central questions: minimum parcel size and setback distances. Several commissioners proposed a 25-acre minimum; others argued for larger buffers and setbacks. "I know I'd read in some stuff where they're up to 100 acres... I'm in favor of [a] thousand-foot setbacks myself," one commissioner said.
Members also discussed whether existing ranges should be explicitly protected in the ordinance. "They are by Georgia law," Hookboth said when commissioners asked whether earlier ranges would be grandfathered; commissioners asked that the ordinance explicitly note that protection.
Other topics included whether the ordinance should cover indoor ranges (several commissioners urged adding indoor-range language because ventilation and lead-handling rules differ), rules on Sunday firing hours or restrictions around church services, and inspection and compliance responsibilities for county staff.
No final vote was taken. Commissioners instructed staff and counsel to incorporate changes — including adding language on grandfathering, clarifying setbacks and minimum lot sizes, and drafting separate language for indoor ranges — and bring a revised draft to a future meeting.
Next steps: county counselor to revise the draft ordinance and return with recommended setbacks, minimum-lot-size language and a clear statement on the treatment of existing ranges.
