It would be hilarious if it weren't true.
But a St. Petersburg man has built a shooting range — like, for gun shooting — in his front yard, a yard that happens to abut other yards that happen to have houses on them where humans, including children, happen to live.
Freedom lover Joey Carannante, 21, has sparked outrage among his neighbors with his decision to construct a gun range in his front yard in the Lakewood Estates neighborhood.
“I don't know if this idiot is going to start popping off rounds,” neighbor Patrick Leary told News Channel 8's Melanie Michael. “I'm furious.”
Carannante's rationale for doing so was the most American thing anyone has ever said.
“I don't want to have to go to a gun range, when I can just go outside my door,” he told Michael.
All he really has to worry about is notifying his neighbors when he's goin' shootin'.
All his neighbors have to worry about is not being outside or letting their kids be outside while he proceeds to observe his Second Amendment right. They also may have to worry whilst indoors if Mr. Carannante's aim goes askew after one too many Jager Bombs. Guns are also loud. Very, very loud. Loud enough to scare the shit out of anyone who happens to be nearby, and loud enough to traumatize the family dog, especially if it hasn't read the Constitution. And, again: Stray. Fucking. Bullets.
The St. Petersburg Police Department knows about the shooting range, but they're powerless to do anything about it.
That's because there's a state law on the books that allows home-brewed gun ranges, and no one can do anything about it until the proprietor gets reckless with his firearm.
From a South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorial:
* There's no restriction on the type of firearms or ammunition that can be used in a backyard shooting range.* There's no restriction on the time of day or night your neighbors can use their gun range.
* And there's no restriction on gun ranges near a public school, day-care center or neighborhood playground. Talk about the need for duck-and-cover lessons.
In 2011, the state legislature passed a bill that would levy a $5,000 fine on any local official who tries to pass an ordinance limiting citizens' ability to build and use a homemade gun range.
Yup, even the guy in Boynton Beach who threatened to install one in his yard when a daycare center was slated to move in nearby.
Hey, remember that proposal to divide Florida into two states? Whatever happened to that?
State Senator Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican, said he thinks the range is in fact illegal and Carannante should get arrested if he starts firing in his yard.
He issued the following statement Monday afternoon:
"Reasonable people would agree that it is inappropriate and dangerous to operate a backyard shooting range with firearms in a residential neighborhood. As a combat veteran I can’t imagine that there is any way that a backyard shooting range like this can be operated safely. If this individual fires his weapon in this backyard shooting range I believe that he is committing a crime. Law enforcement is empowered by state law to arrest this individual if they believe he is acting recklessly or negligently."
