Harnett Dispatch

Over Capacity Crowd Outraged over proposed Firearm and Explosive Ordinance

At tonight’s Harnett County Commissioner meeting tension were high with a large crowd that reached capacity in board room and spread out to the sidewalk of the county government building. It was one of the largest crowds to attend county meeting in years.

The large crowd gathered to speak out against a proposed ordinance that would limit the firing of a weapon within 200ft of any structure, barn, shed or public road meaning if you were to shoot toward an approved target with safety precautions taken you would still be in violation if you were within 200ft of any of the above listed conditions.

The crowd was upset and many claimed that the public hearing was not properly advertised and accused the board members of trying to sneak the bill through.  Some of the residents stood up and said that the county was trying to infringe on their god given right under the 2^nd amendment of the US constitution.

Sheriff Rollins

Sheriff Larry Rollins spoke to the crowd and said that he understood the concerns and liked owning a gun just as much as anybody but there had been complaints.  Many people had complained about the noise caused by the weapons being fired. Rollins said” that he had struggled with this ordinance because he sees both sides of the issue at hand but questions the language in the proposed ordinance.” Many from the crowd reached out to Sheriff Rollins and explained that the proposed ordinance was poorly written and that it would take the right away from the property owners of Harnett County.

Harnett County staff member Randy Baker tried to explain the proposed ordinance but it seemed to frustrate the crowd even more and yells from the hallway where the overflow was being held could be heard throughout the board room. Many veterans and people wearing NRA shirts spoke out against the ordinance and stated they had the right to protect their families and shoot anything they want as long as they are not hurting anyone.

One gentleman asked the sheriff that in the last year has there been anybody struck or killed by a stray bullet and the sheriff replied “not to his knowledge” One resident approached the podium and called out Commissioner Jim Burgin and said” that your my Commissioner and I will deal with you” at that point Chairman Joe Miller called the meeting to order and reminded the crowd that no one is to attack any commissioner and that they were there to learn from the public about their concerns.  Another gentleman took the podium and said that this was nothing more than a political move by two setting commissioners that tried to bring down former county commissioner Dan Andrews who is associated with Drake’s landing shooting club and that it was done on the basis of political revenge.

The proposed ordinance was presented by complaints about noise and safety issues, Former Republican Chairman Jim Burgin brought up the concerns about putting together some type of ordinance that would curve the problem with people shooting all over the place. In a work session last week, Republican Jim Burgin was quoted by the Daily Record “saying that this was good governance” Mr. Burgin said “when we take people’s concerns and address them, that’s a great thing.” Then he thanked the planning and inspection department.

At the end of the meeting Commissioner Jim Burgin said he was a strong supporter of the 2^nd amendment but many are questioning this since he proposed the creation of the ordinance .In the last work session the ordinance was given full support of the entire board, the meeting ended around 10:45pm tonight and they ended up tabling the ordinance and setting up an advisory team to review it.