"Albemarle County officials will discuss a proposed tightening of the county’s gun laws this week.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss several possible changes to the county code, including one that, if enacted, would make it illegal to fire a gun within 200 yards of a county residence, with some exceptions.

The board is scheduled to have a work session on the changes Wednesday, and may also put the issue to a vote, according to Albemarle spokeswoman Lee Catlin.

“The board could decide to go ahead and do something about it at this point if they want,” Catlin said.

The 200-yard rule isn’t set in stone; the board will also consider several alternatives as well as the possibility of leaving the ordinance unchanged, according to the meeting’s agenda.

Though supported by county law enforcement, the proposed changes have drawn the ire of some residents concerned with gun and hunting rights.

Several residents spoke out against the 200-yard rule on Nov. 1, the last time the proposed law change came before the board.

“I’ve been hunting for most of my life,” Donald Hanky said during the meeting. “There are times when it would just be impossible [to comply with the proposed law].”

County law enforcement characterizes the gun ordinance as a “quality of life issue,” rather than a question of public safety, according to Albemarle County Police Chief John Miller.

The reckless handling of a firearm is already illegal under state law, so someone wildly firing shots is already breaking the law.

Likewise, the county code currently prohibits the firing of a gun in most residential neighborhoods.

County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos wrote a letter to the Board of Supervisors in July suggesting a review of the county’s gun laws.

Camblos said at the time that the case of an Albemarle man who shot his next-door neighbor’s cat motivated him to write the letter.

On April 24, George A. Seymour Jr. was sitting with his wife on the back deck of their home in the Bentivar subdivision in northern Albemarle when he saw a cat in his backyard.

He got a handgun and shot the cat, which turned out to be the pet of his next-door neighbors.

After an Aug. 21 trial, Seymour was convicted of misdemeanor animal cruelty and sentenced to 10 days in jail.

But he wasn’t charged with a firearm violation because Bentivar - like some other rural Albemarle subdivisions - is not among the areas covered by the county’s current gun ordinance, Camblos said at the time.

Miller said the proposed changes to the county ordinance would serve rural residents concerned with gunfire near their property.

There was a case in Earlysville where residents set up a firing range on private property near a relatively developed area, Miller said. Alarmed by the gunfire, neighbors contacted county police.

“That’s a case where we got involved and tried to do some mediation, but it didn’t work,” the chief said.

Because the firing range wasn’t illegal, the neighbors didn’t have any legal recourse, he said.

“You can’t have a good quality of life when you’re afraid to let your kids outside or to let your dog roam in the yard,” Miller said.

Proposed exceptions to the 200-yard rule would include instances in which a landowner has given written permission for someone to fire a gun nearby.

Other proposed exemptions to any new gun restrictions include:

• The discharge of a firearm in defense of person or property.
• Shooting on any target, trap or skeet range or hunting preserve existing on the day of the ordinance’s adoption.
• The use of a gun to shoot any “dangerous or destructive wild animal.”"

(Rob Seal, The Daily Progress, December 10, 2006)