Shooting on Private Property?

View · by **tac870** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:31 am

Hey I'm buying land in Sherburne County. Does anyone have a link or a source to the zoning rules or laws concerning target shooting on private property. I called the Sheriff's dept. but they were of no help. I also called the township and they just referred me back to the Sheriff's dept. Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

View · by **Lumpy** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:48 am

Good question; I'd like to know myself. My understanding is that incorporated areas (towns and cities) can have ordinances governing the discharge of firearms within city limits; and that otherwise unincorporated areas follow state law. I am unaware of any general state prohibition on discharge of weapons on your own property but I am unfamiliar with hunting regulations that might come into effect, or safety requirements a private shooting range must meet.

Edited to Add: Here's a link to the search results for "discharge" + "firearm" at the MN Statutes page. It does mention shooting ranges, but I haven't figured out if that means commercial ones or not.

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/search/doc_r ... keyword=GO

Sherburne County zoning ordinances:
http://www.co.sherburne.mn.us/zoning/pz/zoningord.php

View · by **cobb** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:00 am

Don't know if the links will answer your specific question, but it is a start.

http://www.sherburn.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={CB3F3D94-7EC2-4C26-BD1F-6FA7F42B7A17}

http://www.co.sherburne.mn.us/zoning/pz/

Can't get the first link to cut and paste correctly, but got it from here.
http://mn.gov/lawlib/ordinance.html

View · by **BigBlue** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:12 am

cobb wrote:Don't know if the links will answer your specific question, but it is a start.

http://www.sherburn.govoffice.com/index ... =B_PR&SEC={CB3F3D94-7EC2-4C26-BD1F-6FA7F42B7A17}

http://www.co.sherburne.mn.us/zoning/pz/

Can't get the first link to cut and paste correctly, but got it from here.
http://mn.gov/lawlib/ordinance.html

Your first link is related to Sherburn, MN, not Sherburne County. Just FYI.

BB

View · by **tac870** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:20 am

I appreciate the help gentlemen. If anyone has anything else to add feel free.

View · by **cobb** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:57 am

BigBlue wrote:
cobb wrote:Don't know if the links will answer your specific question, but it is a start.

http://www.sherburn.govoffice.com/index ... =B_PR&SEC={CB3F3D94-7EC2-4C26-BD1F-6FA7F42B7A17}

http://www.co.sherburne.mn.us/zoning/pz/

Can't get the first link to cut and paste correctly, but got it from here.
http://mn.gov/lawlib/ordinance.html

Your first link is related to Sherburn, MN, not Sherburne County. Just FYI.

BB

My bad.

View · by **Deputyhiro** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:06 am

I had an incident about 5yrs ago out at my house. I have 12 acres, I am far out of town. I set up a dirt pile in back with leftover dirt from building to shoot at. There was a company in the process of building a pipeline about 1/2 mile across the field from me at the time. It was Memorial day, I could clearly see the construction zone. No trucks, no equiptment, no workers present. It was a holiday. Me and some buddies went out back to do some shooting. About an hour into it, AK47 in hand shooting at the pile I hear, "Steele Co. Swat, drop your weapons!" I turned around laughing, as I thought it was another friend showing up being a smart ass. I was wrong. I was staring down the barrel of several weapons. I have heard of people being so scared that they lost control of certain bodily functions. I was as close as it could get at that second. The situation calmed down quick. Apparently, there were a couple foremen walking the trench that day. We never saw them. They said they heard gun fire and zingers. Called 911 claiming that a disgruntled land owner was shooting at them. My driveway was full of law enforcement vehicles. 2 counties, and state. They figured out pretty quick what was really happening. There was no possible way they got zingers from where we were shooting, and where they claimed to be. The cops agreed. I got a lecture that my 10' x30' dirt pile wasnt enough, and that I'd better stop shooting out there. They told me to go join a range if I wanted to shoot. I asked if I had broken any laws, if so which ones. I moved into the country to be able to do this kind of thing. Especially without being bothered like this. They weren't ever able to provide me with any laws. The only ones pertained to ranges that charged admission / membership fees. Obviously different counties may have different rules. I have since changed my range a bit. Pipeline is long done. No more problems.

View · by **cobb** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 10:14 am

I got reported by another training group as running a commercial range on my rural property.
Got a visit by two county employees to investigate the claim and now have a letter from the county saying I am within the guidelines of the use of my property.

View · by **old guy** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:39 am

My Stepson bought 5 acres in Sherrbourne Co. and we built a range on it, neighbor complained about noise, deputy came out looked the range over and said this is a lot better than some, you'r good to go.

John

View · by **tac870** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:02 pm

What did he use for a backstop?

View · by **old guy** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:06 pm

tac870 wrote:What did he use for a backstop?

If your asking me, we built up dirt berms, we shoot down hill into a swamp with no houses in the background.
I realize it's better to shoot level but you gotta use what you got.

John

View · by **FJ540** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:21 pm

The house that's closest to my lot line where the range is going put little notes saying "Horses in the woods" on their no trespassing signs at some point in the past year (probably when the signs went up - I never looked that close before this past weekend). I got a good laugh out of that, as they don't have horses, or even a fence - they have a golf cart. I'm not sure what they think that does for them either.

View · by **Hmac** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:32 pm

My buddy has a nice range on his property in Crow Wing County. There are no laws against it...state or county. We do have a nice berm, and the entire area beyond it is posted with both "no trespassing" signs and "Warning! Shooting range" signs.

View · by **xd ED** on Wed Mar 26, 2014 6:30 pm

If I ever owned a sizable piece of property, I would hope it would include a shooting range, but the signage would indicate a range, whether I ever shot there or not.

View · by **dupa** on Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:32 am

just to be safe.. I think I would call the sheriff and DNR office. keep track of who you talked to and when. unless your charging people to shoot there I don't think there would be any issues (but hey I'm just some stranger on the internet who's uneducated on the finer points of these laws)