.22 Caliber Rimfire Illegal to shoot in St. Martin Parish?

[Slider]

Sooo today a friend, my son, dad and I are at my buddy's farm, outside of Lafayette city and parish, just inside of St. Martin parish.

He owns 75 acres, and has a small range setup, backstopped by a huge dirt berm . While shooting(mainly steel targets with .380, .38 spl and .45acp) a St. Martin S.O. deputy comes walking down the road(the gate we'd locked behind us) yelling to put them down on safe. No problem there, we obeyed his commands and my dad and I walked over to talk to him.

He asked who the land owner was, I informed him we had express permission to be out there and even showed him the texts from yesterday from the landowner giving permission. That was cool, and he seemed like a cool enough officer. He asked what we were shooting and I told him handguns and sighting in a couple of .22's prior to squirrel season.

He said he wouldn't cite us but that .22's were illegal to fire in St. Martin parish period per parish code. I came home and looked through their code online and saw no such ordinance. I'm wondering if some of the BayouShooter family can shed some light on this and provide any code reference which in fact says no .22's in St martin parish.

About that time the landowner showed up, they talked and after he showed the deputy his property line, the lane of fire in the direction we were shooting, the deputy agreed that there was no way any of our projectiles could be landing at the nearby Lafayette S.O. range which has been a problem lately apparently. It seems an anonymous caller had called to complain. We thanked him for just doing his job and we were pretty much done for the day.

All's well that ends well, we did have some fun, got my dad's muzzleloader sighted in but not the .22's so much .

I appreciate any input on the "no .22 rimfire" aspect of our conversation. Thanks!

 

[jetmech1983]

That is weird for sure. Ready to see what is said on this one.

 

[sandman7925]

If it is law then it's a stupid one. I remember hearing the old "a 22 can travel for miles when I was a kid" and it's bull s^%t.

 

[Guate_shooter]

You have me a little confussed though, the Lafayette Parish SO Range is indeed inside the Lafayette City Limits

You should look into the City Ordinances of both Parishes as it sounds you are in the border line.

Last time I checked St.Martin Parish does not have a restriction on calibers like you were told (please dont quote me on that), they do however have a parish ordinance for noise and also require for you to be 100 feet from the centerline of the public road for a weapon to be discharged as well as 1.5 miles away from a school or church, also IIRC there was something that mentioned for a Range to be located at least within 1 mile from the nearest residence and have an aprooved backstop or berm.

I would have taken down the Officers name and ask his suppervisor to further give you information on Monday morning since its something new.

I shoot in my backyard in St. Martin Parish and my only problem was a crazy neighbor other than than never had an issue with the SO.

 

[Slider]

We're approx. 200yds from the centerline of the access road and the direction of fire is with our backs to the road. We're a couple of miles from i-10 and i-49 at best guess(will check google maps on that one). I should've specified, we passed the access road for the LPSO range which is just inside the parish/city line apparently. We're bordered on 2 sides by pretty thick woods also. I do have his last name written down and I do plan to call to check on this this week. I'll report back I should add that the landowner was an armorer and range master in the military for 16years and made sure to locate the firing lane in the safest direction

The interaction was professional and courteous, but the no .22 thing kinda caught me by suprise

 

[deafdave3]

I've lived in St. Martin Parish for 40 years. Yes, it is illegal. HOWEVER, I am only saying that because for 40 years, neighbors, cops, landowners, family, friends, etc., have been telling me that. Never once have I been arrested or cited for shooting a .22 in St. Martin Parish, nor have I actually seen written proof.

 

[Tx_oil]

I am an RSO at LPSO, and last winter there was a situation whereby a homeowner found two bullet holes in their carport, and blamed the LPSO range as the source. Some investigation revealed that the source of the bullets was a field nearby, in St Martin Parish, in which some people had been plinking. I'm thinking that the deputy was just being alert, if somewhat misinformed.

 

[kajuntriton]

If it is law then it's a stupid one. I remember hearing the old "a 22 can travel for miles when I was a kid" and it's bull s^%t.

This may be true, and I agree with you BUT it sure doesn't help when ammo manufactures state on their boxes of ammo "Range - 1 1/2miles Be Careful"

 

[Slider]

Good point kajuntriton, that sure doesn't help the case . I hear ya Bersa, not knowing St. Martin parish code by heart and in general I'm pretty easy going, I simply spoke to the officer with the respect he deserves for his 22yrs of service, and the situation didn't escalate Now, I'm no investigator in ballistics , but when he stated that some houses had been hit by falling projectiles, I don't know how they would trace them back to being fired from a certain area other than a general back azimuth?

I did a search and found St. Martin Parish code listed here :
http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=11503&stateID=18&statename=Louisiana

I should also mention that we were shooting at 25yds steel silhouette's with maybe 10% of the rounds going into paper targets and the berm behind the lane.

Not saying deflections don't happen , we know they do, however the volume of projectiles available to deflect off of in a berm or backstop where we were compared to say, a developed range or some place like Sherburne , I would think would be a whole lot less likely. The landowner and the deputy actually went to the bordering property and the deputy was shown that there were other ways into the woods via an un-gated trail about 1/2mile down from his property line. Once shown this and their relational position to the direction we were shooting, the deputy agreed that there was "no way" that our rounds were the ones impacting/falling on the LPSO range and/or the homes that reported the same.

Mis informed maybe but I would hope a career deputy with 10yrs patrol duty under his belt(per our conversation) , would be familiar enough to cite a verifiable ordinance before threatening to write us? I just want to be sure before we head back over there so we don't have or cause any problems .

Thanks for the input btw, much appreciated!!!

 

[Slider]

tx_oil, nice to meet ya and thanks for what you do. The LPSO range is within 10min of my house and my son and I would love to shoot there, but every Saturday when we take a ride, the sign always says closed to the public. I thought the range was open to the public most Saturdays, did something change? Are there other days we can check you guys out?

 

[Slider]

Ok, just found this after another search, http://library.municode.com/showDocument.aspx?clientID=11503&docID=0#COOR_CH13OFIS_S13-5DIRI

"It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge thirty (30) or twenty-two (22) caliber rifles in the parish when it is reasonably foreseeable that death or great bodily harm may result to humans or damage to property may result.

(Ord. of 9-6-49)"

If this is current then there it is but the language is kinda vague IMHO . I assume no deer hunting is allowed in the parish as a result of .30 or .22 caliber rifles being restricted by this? Guess we'll leave the .22's and the mosin's, ak's, and ar's at home for now.

 

[deafdave3]

Well, I tell ya what. If ya'll are ever in the vicinity of Rye, Texas, stop by my house and we can shoot all you want in my back yard. I'll even have the wife bring us a glass of sweet tea (I can't drink alcohol). My only rule; we can only shoot fruits, vegetables, or other edible objects.

 

[deafdave3]

...yelling to put them down on safe...

I hope no LEO ever yells at me to put my gun down; I would never hear him. And that may end up getting me shot.

 

[Slider]

Bersa, if we're ever in the area I'll be sure to let ya know Not a fan of alcohol in general , especially don't mix that and firearms either Your rule rules sir We usually try to clean up more than the debris we caused just as a courtesy to the land owner, I'll go clean up next week after work since we had to leave abruptly

 

[LACamper]

Dave, I like the edible targets idea. The area critters must love it when ya'll shoot! As far as the officer walking up you might want to put a sign up.

 

[Guate_shooter]

Ok, just found this after another search, http://library.municode.com/showDocument.aspx?clientID=11503&docID=0#COOR_CH13OFIS_S13-5DIRI

"It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge thirty (30) or twenty-two (22) caliber rifles in the parish when it is reasonably foreseeable that death or great bodily harm may result to humans or damage to property may result.

(Ord. of 9-6-49)"
.

Then he couldnt have cited you on that alone, being you guys had an "aprooved" backstop and there was no danger out of you guys shooting in that specific area or path to humans or property, like you mentioned the was a Senior Deputy and this might be something that was inforced hard years ago but its the first time I read it and I have been living and shooting here for 2 years straight and all my son shoots is a 22LR.

We have a 4 1/2' x 8 1/2' wall made of 3 rows of sand bags as our backstop in the backyard with steel targets of hangers .......