(a) Purpose. The purpose of this ordinance is to promote the health, safety, and welfare of the public while shooting activity is ongoing within the City's jurisdiction. Other purposes of this ordinance include:
(1) To ensure the safety of all individuals within the vicinity of a shooting range, whether indoor or outdoor.
(2) To ensure that no damage occurs to property within the vicinity of and resulting from a shooting range.
(3) To ensure that indoor and outdoor shooting ranges are constructed in areas and buildings that are adequately designed to allow for safe operation.
(4) To ensure that shooting activities at shooting ranges is conducted during hours of operation that minimize the disturbance of neighboring landowners and homeowners.
(5) To ensure that lighting from night shooting is sufficiently contained to the shooting range.
(6) To ensure that noise mitigation measures are taken to reduce the amount of disturbance to neighboring landowners and homeowners.
(7) To ensure that harmful waste is safely stored to prevent harm external to shooting range properties.
(b) General Provisions.
(1) Pursuant to W. Va. Code § 20-2-58, it shall be unlawful to discharge a firearm at a noncommercial or commercial outdoor shooting range:
A. Within five hundred (500) feet of any school or church; or
B. Within five hundred (500) feet of a dwelling; Provided, That a person who is a resident of a dwelling house, and his or her authorized guest, may shoot or discharge a firearm in a lawful manner within five hundred (500) feet of the dwelling house where the person lives, if the firearm is being discharged with the express or implied knowledge and consent of all residents of that dwelling house, and no other dwelling houses are located within five hundred feet (500) of where the firearm is discharged.
(2) All shooting ranges operating within the city should refer to the NRA's Range Source Book and the United States Department of Energy Range Design Criteria for guidance in safely constructing shooting ranges. The City may hire experts necessary, at the shooting range owner or operator's expense, to ensure compliance with this section prior to issuing a zoning permit and to review evidence of noncompliance with this section.
(c) Noncommercial Outdoor Shooting Range.
(1) All noncommercial outdoor shooting ranges shall be constructed such that a bullet cannot exit the property on which the shooting range is located when the shooter is aimed at the target(s).
(2) All shooting range activities shall occur within the timeframe from two (2) hours before sunrise and two (2) hours after sunset.
(3) When not in use, all impermanent materials used as targets or otherwise for the shooting range shall be removed from the shooting range and stored in an area that is not visible from nearby public rights-of-way.
(d) Noncommercial Indoor Shooting Range. All noncommercial indoor shooting ranges shall be constructed such that a bullet cannot exit the building within which shooting activity occurs.
(e) Commercial Outdoor Shooting Range.
(1) All noncommercial outdoor shooting ranges shall be constructed such that a bullet cannot exit the property on which the shooting range is located when the shooter is aimed at the target(s).
(2) Commercial outdoor shooting ranges shall not operate outside the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
(3) All commercial outdoor shooting ranges shall be surrounded by a landscaped buffer area consisting solely of evergreen vegetation that will reach at least eight (8) feet in heigh at maturity or privacy fencing at least eight (8) feet tall.
(4) All waste potentially containing lead or other toxic materials shall be safely gathered and stored such that contaminants do not leave the property on which they accumulated.
(f) Commercial Indoor Shooting Range.
(1) All commercial indoor shooting ranges shall be constructed such that a bullet cannot exit the building where shooting activity occurs.
(2) All waste potentially containing lead or other toxic materials shall be safely gathered and stored such that contaminants do not leave the property on which they accumulated. (Ord. 319. Passed 6-18-24.)