Shooting on Private Property

[Guest Samurai9]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and this is my first posting.

Can anyone direct me to a good source of information on the right to shoot on private property, particularly in Cheatham County? From what I have read, it seems to be legal to shoot on private property, subject to some restrictions on closeness to dwellings and roads, regulation of noise, and general safety rules. My beginning assumption is that one can shoot on private property in Cheatham County, provided one does not disturb neighbors or engage in unsafe behavior. Am I wrong? Where should I look for authoritative statements on this subject?

Thanks for your help.

Samurai

[Guest Len]

Here is the best place to go to find out, or learn who to contact to find out:

http://www.cheathamcountytn.gov/

[Guest Samurai9]

Hi, Len. I have found the Cheatham website to be very limited. Except for property maps, the county doesn't seem to put much detailed information online. I have gone to their website many times and have done the usual Google searches on the web.

Thanks,

Samurai

[Guest Fuel]

I grew up in Cheatham County. I thought everybody there just stepped out in their back yard to shoot.

My mom still lives out there. I shoot at her place ocassionally. She lives on a farm out in the country in the Pleasant View area. Never given it a second thought. I used to shoot my .22 rifle out in the backyard when I was a kid. I think if you are outside any city limits you are probably ok. Just my opinion though. Could be wrong.

[Marswolf]

Counties in Tennessee are pretty limited in the kind of restrictions they can put on stuff like shooting unless the legislature passes a private act.

My guess is that you are OK if out of any corporate limits and don't do it often enough to really annoy others. But I'd make a quick call to the county mayor's office.

[Guest GlocKingTN]

I would say your OK as well. As long as you follow the safety rules, such as being a specific distance from a roadway, etc. etc. But calling and confirming wouldn't hurt!

[Mike.357]

When I called the local gestapo here in Knox County I was told that I could shoot ( i live outside city limits btw) on my property as long as I was not aiming at a dwelling or person.

Keep in mind you are legally responsible for where your bullet ends up at. I would be pretty darn sure of a backstop. In my case I shoot into a hillside that is tree covered, there is no dwelling on that hill and I am reasonably sure I will have no bullets end up somewhere I do not want them to be.

As an added precaution I have a frame to hang targets from that insures that my bullets end up in the hill. I would have to aim more than ten feet over the top of my target frame for the bullet to not hit the hill. I have also been building a dirt pile as an additional backstop. The dirt pile completely fills the line of sight behind the targets. When shooting rifles, the line of sight to the target is downhill into the hillside and dirtpile as well.

remember you are responsible for where that bullet ends up at.

I shoot any time I want to within reason. I limit it to between 12 pm and 6pm or so. There is no noise statute here at that time of day. I do not go out and shoot a thousand rounds in one afternoon, but I have shot several hundred, some of them from the M44 and SKS.

Personally I do not care if the people who can hear my noise are bothered by it. If they came by and asked nicely I would work with them but I would not stop totally. I have a right to use my property legally for what ever I choose. The one thing I have liked about the area I live though is that people seem to mind their own business.

I might add that my nearest neighbor is over 100 yards away from where I shoot, but as long as I am safe I would not care if they were 50 feet.

[Guest Samurai9]

I expect to buy some land in the country within a week or two. The land consists of a hollow between steep hills. No homes are in sight or nearby. I think this will be a perfectly safe place to shoot. With a friend, I did a noise test using a FAL. She fired while I walked along the road which is the south boundary of the land. I could hear a loud boom coming up. I don't want my future neighbors to be bothered by an hour or two of such booms. I plan on building a noise suppressing box and shooting through it to muffle the sound. I also have some cans in smaller calibres.

I am concerned that the town of Pegram will annex the area in the future and prohibit shooting. This seems unlikely because the Cheatham Wildlife Management Area stands between the land and Pegram city limits.

Thanks for the comments.

Samurai

[jgrauman]

hamilton county restricts us to no shooting within 500 feet from a dwelling. my land is perfect for this as i have a small opening in the trees with a rather large hill as a backstop, of course the **tch that lives two lots over hates me and has called the cops before. they told me not to worry, i wasn't doing anything illegal. she's from chicago and thinks it's horrendous that we are allowed to do that.

[Mike.357]

Samauri it is commedable that you worry about your neighbors being bothered by an hour or two of noise. I see no reason for you to worry.

I do not know how often you shoot or plan two but it is not to much for you to expect to be able to legally use your property. In a prior post I stated I do not care what the neighbors think, but It should be noted I am reasonable and at most find myself shooting only a few times a week and generally the noise does not last more than an hour or so.

It will be your land and you should do what you are legally able to do.

Anti's will love it that you worry more about their feelings than your own.

[Marswolf]

Actually Samurai, I think it is very commendable that you are trying to keep the noise down. I live out in the county but very seldom shoot on the property because I know it disturbs the neighbors, even if they don't say anything.

It turns out that we can't just do anything we want on our land because there is no county law against it. We all have sort-of a noise statute, but it is enforceable only in civil action.

A few months ago I had a discussion with a prosecutor friend of mine who is now a judge. One of my neighbors was disturbing my wife by riding 4-wheelers frequently during the day. Basically, he told me that while there are no county laws, and it would be difficult for a Tennessee county to legislate such a law to prevent them from making all that noise, there is in state code a provision that you have a right to use of your property without continually being distracted. I forget the proper legal term. So, while we may live in the county, we can't just do whatever we please if it repeatedly disturbs the neighbors. It's a gray area and provides us with certain protections to reasonable use of our property without having to endure unreasonable use by other property owners. So the sheriff isn't going to help you, but the courts might if things are bad enough. Fortunately my neighbors understood after a personal visit that I wasn't going to let them continue to unreasonably disturb us so I didn't have to take any legal or other action.

Apart from legalities, it's just a matter of courtesy.

BTW, in Sullivan county, the setting up of a permanent range is governed under zoning regulations. You can plink occasionally on your property or hunt some, but if you set up a range it has to be on property zoned for business. I have another friend who ran up against that a couple of years ago.

[Guest Samurai9]

I have spoken to the building commissioner of Cheatham County about building on the soon to be mine land. I will get a copy of the building and code regulations, but I have not read them yet. Judging from what the official told me, Cheatham County has enacted a draconian law that largely deprives property owners of their rights. It seems you would need a permit to put up a tent, to widen a dirt road, to put gravel on your driveway, to build a campfire in the woods, to install a storage building, to put up a metal carport, to install a porta-potty for construction workers, or to park an RV overnight, on your own property, in the woods. This law basically taxes anything and everything you do on your land. But this is worse than a tax on things you are FREE to do, because you have to get government PERMISSION to do these things. You may be taxed merely for ASKING for the permission (application fee). I tell you, Karl Marx has taken over Cheatham County. There is local opposition to all this collectivist nonsense and so democratic processes may be able to throw the bastards out.

If I disturb my neighbors with gunfire, the county may tell me that I need a permit to shoot, and then deny me the permit. That seems to be the mentality in this area. I am reminded of the scene in the Popeye movie with Robin Williams when the local bureaucrat states that there is a boarding tax, a tax on walking, on breathing, etc. (something like that).

Samurai

[DaveTN]

The only opinion you really care about is that of the responding Police Officers. Call or go to the agency that would send Officers to respond if someone called in on you. They can answer your questions whether it is firearms or noise laws.