Shooting Range

Larry Bird retired yesterday, and his basketball headstone should read: "He expanded our imagination."That was his elemental appeal. It was the same with Magic Johnson. They made you understand that anything was possible on a basketball court.A point guard such as Magic could lead his team in rebounding and even play center if he had to. A big, rough forward such as Bird could pass and shoot three-pointers as deftly as the trickiest little guard.That could not really happen, could it? Yes, just watch Bird do it. Magic, too. (This is supposed to be just about Bird, but it is getting almost impossible to separate him from his friend and rival.

The Baltimore County Police Department plans to renovate its indoor shooting range in Lutherville after being cited for exposing employees to high concentrations of lead. Maryland Occupational Safety and Health issued the citations in May after finding that the ventilation system operated poorly and other protections against lead exposure, such as regular disposal of combustible waste, were not in place. Police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said the department is evaluating plans to improve ventilation.

A Finksburg man who wants to open an indoor shooting range near Westminster took his proposal before the county Board of Zoning Appeals yesterday, stressing that he will do everything he can to make it safe for customers and neighbors.Herbert Starlings, who has been shooting as a hobby for 30 years, wants to open the range in part of a former knitting factory at 535 Old Westminster Pike."The purpose of this facility, besides providing my income, is to provide a training facility. The worst enemy of any handgun enthusiast is the unsafe shooter," he said.

I grew up with guns in my house. There are guns in my house. I understand the sport of the shooting range and the sport of hunting. I understand the argument, while not finding it convincing, that guns in the home protect you. What I do not understand is any argument for assault weapons in private hands. Assault weapons were created to kill people - just as one did so effectively in the hands of a 20-year-old at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now is the time to have a reasoned discussion of gun ownership and of gun control.

The Baltimore County Police Department plans to renovate its indoor shooting range in Lutherville after being cited for exposing employees to high concentrations of lead. Maryland Occupational Safety and Health issued the citations in May after finding that the ventilation system operated poorly and other protections against lead exposure, such as regular disposal of combustible waste, were not in place. Police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said the department is evaluating plans to improve ventilation.

WESTMINSTER -- A county recreation and parks advisory subcommittee recommends the county pursue plans to establish an outdoor shooting range at Hoods Mill Landfill near Woodbine.But the subcommittee hesitated to recommend the controversial site as appropriate, saying that details of how the range would be designed and managed should be established and revealed to the public before a decision is made.Six subcommittee members voted unanimously Wednesday to pass the recommendation to the full, 12-member County Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.

A Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals hearing to determine whether a Finksburg man may open an indoor shooting range in Westminster will continue next week after a daylong hearing yesterday.Testimony began in the case at a hearing May 25 and continued yesterday. More evidence will be presented at 9:30 a.m. July 1 in Room 309 of the County Office Building.Herbert Starlings wants to open the range in part of a former knitting factory at 535 Old Westminster Pike. Some neighbors opposed the project; they said they worried about noise and safety.

If Carroll County gets a public shooting range, it won't be at Morgan Run, Richard J. Soisson, director of recreation and parks, told the county commissioners yesterday.State officials, in response to a letter from the Carroll County Sportsmen's Association, said that public outcry during the Morgan Run master plan hearings in July 1992 convinced them not to open a shooting range there, Mr. Soisson said.Torrey C. Brown, the Maryland secretary of natural resources, said in a letter to the sportsmen's association that noise, safety, cost and access concerns also influenced the decision.

After weeks of controversy and debate, the Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals on Friday rejected an application to open an indoor shooting range in Westminster.Finksburg resident Herbert Starlings, who has been shooting as a hobby for 30 years, wanted to open the range in a portion of the former Westminster Knit Corp. factory at 535 Old Westminster Pike.Under county regulations, the indoor shooting range required board approval because the former sewing factory is in a restricted industrial zone.

Advocates and opponents of an outdoor shooting range near Westminster turned out in almost equal numbers last night to let the County Commissioners know where they stand on the proposal.For nearly 90 minutes, almost three dozen county residents addressed the commissioners in a small hearing room crammed with more than 100 people.And while proponents and opponents were nearly equally represented, any illusions the commissioners had about avoiding the same type of opposition they encountered a month ago in South Carroll were quickly shattered.

Outspoken Del. Patrick L. McDonough outlined his plans for tough penalties for gun crimes as firearms owners gathered at a Bel Air shooting range as part of a national series of events to push back against proposed gun control measures. "What I'm mad as hell about is they want to take our Second Amendment rights away, but they don't care about people who are really committing the crimes," McDonough said of people proposing new gun laws. He was speaking at the Horst & McCann indoor gun range in Bel Air as part of a series of events dubbed "Gun Appreciation Day," by a Republican political consultant, and staged as a protest against new gun laws that President Barack Obama and governors including Martin O'Malley have proposed in the wake of the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

I feel compelled to respond to Christian Wilson's letter ("Quick-fix legislation won't solve our gun violence problem," Dec. 31). The author really made a compelling case for gun laws, the opposite of what he intended. He is correct that laws cannot keep everyone from doing violence. That is why dangerous weapons like assault rifles should not be readily available. Does anyone think that Adam Lanza would attack an elementary school with a hammer? If he did, there would probably be no one dead there.

I grew up in Baltimore, in a world where guns were, unambiguously, for deterring or killing people . Family lore says that back in the 1920s, my grandfather used a gun to scare off the Mafia - the Black Hand, as Sicilians of the time called it. While in other cities thugs collected protection money, Baltimore Mayor William Broening deputized Italian businessmen like my grandfather, giving them badges and guns to deter the bad guys. It turned out that, as my dad put it, mafiosi are businessmen.

Kudos to Judge Benson E. Legg for overturning Maryland's draconian and unconstitutional gun-carry laws. Statistics are very clear - granting carry permits to law-abiding, well-trained citizens does not increase gun violence. In fact, when the good are armed, the bad are hesitant. When I lived in Pennsylvania, I had a weapons permit, carried the gun often and never once fired it anywhere except the shooting range. But I was prepared to protect myself and my family, if necessary. Our neighbors in Pennsylvania and Virginia, both demographically very similar to suburban Maryland, rank lower in gun deaths per 100,000 than our lovely state.

The condos at the Ritz-Carlton Residences offer "luxurious waterfront living" — with breathtaking views of Baltimore's Inner Harbor and amenities that include marble baths, landscaped terraces and butler's pantries with access for the help. But that's not enough for one resident. An architect has been talking to city officials about permits that might be needed to build a gun range in one of the penthouse-level condos on Key Highway, at the foot of Federal Hill. Inquiries about the gun range were meant to be hush-hush, but word about the unusual request got out quickly.

LOS ANGELES - The city of Chico, Calif., has set aside $1.6 million to clean up a shooting range, and Santa Cruz, Calif., may have to spend $500,000 to get the lead out. The culprit: billions of bullets and shotgun pellets that shooters discharge on these and other ranges nationwide. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that people blast tens of millions of pounds of lead each year at the country's 9,000 outdoor ranges. Roughly 4 percent of all lead produced in the United States - about 80,000 tons a year - becomes bullets and shot.

An indoor shooting range is still looking for a home in Carroll County. News that the pending lease between Eldersburg Business Center and Top Gun Indoor Range Inc. was cancelled means Carroll's gun owners will not have any new ranges -- indoor or outdoor -- to practice their hobby any time soon.Numerous attempts by the county to locate an outdoor public range have been unsuccessful. Proposed sites at county-owned property at Hoods Mills landfill and Union Mills as well as state-owned land at Morgan Run Natural Environment Area were all rejected because of strong community opposition.

Howard County police and fire officials met with Marriottsville residents last night to allay concerns and offer more details on a $17.2 million public safety training facility beginning to take shape in a neighborhood that continues to sprout new homes. The complex would consist of about seven structures on 41 acres of the Alpha Ridge Landfill. It was announced two years ago - before many homes nearby were built - and is expected to be completed by mid-2007, officials said. The police and fire departments want to eliminate the practice of sending officers and firefighters to facilities in other counties for certain types of training because it costs money and drains manpower and public safety resources from Howard County.

Deborah and Patrick Harrington say they hear the boom-boom-boom of gunfire from their neighbor's property in Pasadena. They claim that bullets sometimes sail through their back yard, and they keep their children inside when it's happening. It's a situation not uncommon in rural communities. "The bullets whiz right through the tops of the trees," Deborah Harrington said. "You can hear them." The Harringtons said the gunfire comes from a shooting range a few acres away, beyond some woods, and has occurred repeatedly since they built their home on William Harrington Lane seven years ago. The range is legal because it is more than 100 yards from the Harringtons' land, the minimum distance allowed by the county from the nearest road or occupied structure, police said.