Wis. DNR Delays Shooting Range Rules After Pushback

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Department of Natural Resources officials chose Thursday to delay plans to impose uniform rules on state-owned shooting ranges in the face of pushback from the public, pulling the regulations from their board's agenda.

The DNR owns nine ranges around Wisconsin and operates about half of them. Local clubs run the others in partnership with the agency. No uniform rules apply across the ranges.

DNR officials have been working on such regulations since 2013 and had planned to bring a wide-ranging package before the agency's board April 13. The rules would have prohibited possession and consumption of alcohol on the ranges, banned automatic weapons, tracers and exploding targets and required shooters to unload their weapons when they weren't on the firing line.

Shooting advocates gave the rules a cool reception, noting most ranges already follow such restrictions. They also complained about the alcohol ban and questioned whether forcing people to unload off the firing line conflicts with open and concealed carry laws.

The group that manages the DNR range in the north Wisconsin town of Boulder Junction sent pages of scathing comments to the DNR on Monday. It contended that whoever wrote the rules had never fired a gun in his or her life and the regulations were based on perceptions of firearm dangers developed by watching action movies such as "Lethal Weapon" and "Dirty Harry."

DNR spokesman George Althoff said the agency has gotten "many constituent comments" on the regulations that were varied, though many raised concerns about the rules' impact on open and concealed carry.

He acknowledged "a lack of clarity" on that point in the rules and said the DNR would gather more public input on the regulations, perhaps through hearings, over the next few months. The agency and will bring the rules package back to the board sometime later this year, he said.

"This is us trying to be a responsive agency that listens to its stakeholders before the board takes final action," Althoff said. "We want to do this right."

Peter Drahn, secretary of the Boulder Junction range group, said the organization was glad to see the DNR taking time to talk to stakeholders.

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