Pierce County Council delays lifting Graham-Kapowsin shooting ban

Beset with resident concerns about safety and gun rights, the Pierce County Council on Tuesday postponed indefinitely a proposal to loosen a shooting ban in the Graham-Kapowsin area.

The council unanimously sent back the proposal to the Firearms Advisory Commission for a more-thorough study of how to balance the concerns of residents about safety and of some property owners about restrictions limiting their hunting and varmint control activities.

The motion to postpone the shooting ban amendment came from Councilman Jim McCune, the author of the proposed ordinance amendment.

Council members said that they had received substantial input from constituents about the proposed change.

The ordinance amendment would have modified a 2002 council ordinance that had restricted shooting firearms in a 43-square-mile area. The proposal would have allowed hunting with firearms and other weapons discharges in an area originally described as about 2,000 acres.

The council in mid-February held an initial public hearing on the proposal. The Firearms Advisory Commission and a council committee both recommended the shooting ban be lifted.

But the proposal had attracted a plethora of protest in letters to the council and at Tuesday’s meeting.

Bethel School Superintendent Tom Seigel told the council he was concerned about the safety of students at Kapowsin Elementary School, near the boundaries of the shooting area.

Seigel said one of the district’s school buildings had recently been hit by a bullet fired from 0.8 mile away.

  

Kurt Erickson, an Army combat veteran who once lived in the area under discussion, said he has seen the effects of high-powered rounds striking human flesh in Middle Eastern conflicts.

“It’s a pretty awful sight,” he said.

The impact of stray bullets, he said, isn’t the only downside of allowing shooting in the proposed area.

Even the sound of gunshots in the vicinity of a school is enough to trigger a lockdown and a loss of an instructional day, he said.

Mark Rayburn, a nearly five-decade resident of the area, said there has never been a case of a bullet hitting a resident or visitor to the area.

Rayburn gathered the signatures of 38 property owners who own 69 tracts in the area and who want the shooting restrictions abolished.

A counter-petition signed by 41 people asks the council to keep the ban intact.

Rayburn contended his petition better represents the will of the majority of people in the area because the rival petition includes signatures from people living outside the ban limits.

Both sides said that the no-shooting zone’s boundaries make it difficult, if not nearly impossible, for visitors, residents and law enforcement officials to know where they are allowed to shoot.

The irregularly shaped area is generally west of the Orting-Kapowsin Highway, south of 234th Street East, east of 110th Avenue East and north of 288th Street East. But the boundaries twist and turn frequently, confusing those trying to abide by or enforce the law.

The council said it plans to issue more-specific instructions to the firearms commission about what it wants it to examine more thoroughly. Council members suggested, for instance, that some firearms, such as shotguns, which have a limited range, could be allowed, while high-powered hunting and assault rifles could be banned from firing in the area.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Pierce County Council delays lifting Graham-Kapowsin shooting ban."