Environment | Law | National

Shingle Springs Band considered but rejected indoor gun range

Thursday, March 26, 2015

This aerial map shows the "Shingle Springs Off-Reservation Trust Land" where the proposed shooting range will be located in Shingle Springs, California. Image from Google Maps

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians in California considered building an indoor gun range but the costs were too high, FOX40 reports.

So the tribe decided to go with a 29-lane outdoor range that's generating controversy. Residents are worried that gunfire will disrupt the neighborhood, which is home to two schools, although they are not adjacent to the shooting site or easily reachable.

But there are homes that surround the parcel of the trust land where the tribe plans to build the range. In response to neighborhood complaints, officials say the project won't move forward until all concerns are addressed.

“We were going to move a little bit quicker but after hearing the concerns by community members, especially the individuals most affected, the schools, the tribe has pulled back it’s timeline,” administrator Ernest Vargas told FOX40.

The controversy came up briefly at a roundtable hosted by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee yesterday. An official from a different county said the tribe originally planned to use the site for a health clinic when it filed a land-into-trust application with the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Get the Story:
Neighbors Protest Planned Shooting Range on Tribal Land (FOX40 3/26)
Battle over proposed gun range appears ready to escalate (KXTV 3/26)