Firing range scares some residents, not all

Neighbors living within a few feet of the shooting range on Soundside Drive in Gulf Breeze say they do not hear the shooting inside their homes, and it does not make as much noise as motorcycles or cars without mufflers.

Gulf Breeze News visited the range site this week, and neighbors came out of their homes to talk with us. Bob Winter lives next door to Dr. William Howe II, the owner of the target shooting range. Winter's home is across the street from the range. "I have a walking path within yards of the range that I use every day and I walk my dog. I have often walked that path with my dog on weekends when Bill and his son are shooting and have no fear and my dog doesn't flinch," Winter said. "And when I am in my home, I cannot hear it at all. From my front door to the shooting bench it is about 290 yards."

The range meets NRA standards, which requires a shooting bench with only one gun being used at a time.

Vic Bindy and his nine year old son spoke with Gulf Breeze News about the range, also. He lives two doors from the Howe home, across the street from the range. "When I was looking for a home a few months ago I found this beautiful spot in Gulf Breeze, right on the water. Then when I told some people at work that I was looking at a house on Soundside Drive, they said they had just read and heard about the controversy over a target shooting range across the street. To me that was a plus," Bindy said. "I have been in the military for over 20 years, and feel a lot better about people hunting with weapons and owning guns if they have some understanding of how to handle them and not be proficient with their weapon. This helps."

He and his wife purchased their home June 12. His son agreed that he does not hear the shooting inside their home.

Bindy said he does not believe it is a sound issue. "I believe it is people who are not comfortable with guns, and I believe it is a gun issue," he said. "I know this is not a safety issue because the federal government has been out here, the state has been out here and the county has had deputies out here and no one has found any safety issue here or any violations of any kind. And I do not believe it is a sound issue because none of us living a lot closer than Kitty Hawk Circle can hear the shooting inside our homes."

Winter took out a Digital Sound Recorder — which measures decibels of noise — still in the package and opened it to check the decibels of the semi-automatic gun — an AR15 — which was set up on the shooting bench at the range. "This is a gun we use a lot here," he said. "Let's see what the decibels are." The gun was shot several times, with the decibel reader right next to the gun, and a reading was taken each time. The reading always came out to be between 65 and 68 decibels. "A normal vacuum cleaner registers 70 decibels," Winter said.

A car drove by while Winter was standing on the side of the road, and the decibels of the passing car was 72.

"I just do not believe this is a sound issue," Winter said. "I believe it is driven by fear of the unknown. I would encourage the people who have the concern or the commissioners to come out and take a look at Dr. Howe's range."