This thread is one of the more disturbing ones that I've seen, given that some participants in it seem to have the attitude that the rule of law doesn't apply to them.
This kind of "lawless attitude" definitely doesn't do people like me -who would like to see fish and wildlife agencies throughout the USA adopt California's progressive stance in authorizing air rifles as a legitimate means of taking small, edible game- any favors. What it does do is play into the sterotypes that many regulators already have about "adult airgun enthusiasts." In the eyes of many of them, the words "adult" and "airgun" don't go together. And by adopting the "yeah, I know the law says I can't, but to hell with it -I'll just do what I want to do, anyhow" stance, we prove that they are correct.
Kinda tough to bill ourselves as law abiding airgun owners when our participation in a thread like this involves commentary on circumventing law or how best to "get away with it."
Very mature, that is. Soooooo adult. And what a fabulous role model for youth! On the one hand, it is hoped, we expect our youth to do what they're told at home, behave in school and abide by rules, and grow up into honorable, law-abiding adulthood. On the other, we demonstrate how much value we really place in the rule of law when we publicly express methods for circumventing laws we don't happen to agree with or believe should apply to us as individuals.
The original poster's question has a really, really, simple answer. If it is ILLEGAL to discharge an airgun in the jurisdiction where you live, DON'T SHOOT THERE. PERIOD.
And no, I don't feel sorry for you if you have to travel a bit to shoot LEGALLY. I've had to do the self same thing for the whole of my life. I have to do that exact same thing now.
I was raised, for the most part, in metropolitain LA / Orange County, California, and I lived there most of my life. There isn't a single municipality in either of those counties where shooting an airgun in your backyard is legal. So I had to travel outside of the metro area to target shoot. For me, the closest and best place to LEGALLY shoot involved a 125 mile one-way trip from my home in San Juan Capistrano, CA.
Now, I live in Tahlequah, Oklahoma where -surprise, surprise- it is illegal to discharge an airgun inside our fair city's corporate limits. Outside of town, in rural Cherokee County, you can shoot whatever you want on your own land. Since I don't own rural land here in Cherokee County, I have to do what I've always done to enjoy my shooting hobby legally -go to the nearest / best range or public land shooting area, where I can do my thing LEGALLY. In my case, that is the public shooting area on the Cherokee Wildlife Management area just outside of Zeb, here in Cherokee County. It's a nine mile drive from my home in Tahlequah and takes about 15 minutes of my time to get there.
If I couldn't go there, I'd go somewhere else. And I'd drive as far as I needed to in order to do my thing the way I want to legally. What I WOULD NOT DO is pretend that the Talequah shooting ordinance doesn't apply to me, and shoot in my own back yard knowing that doing so is illegal.
When airguns are legislated like firearms are in this country, it'll be easy for us to blame draconian lawmakers for a lack of knowledge and understanding. It'll be harder for us to argue our case effectively if we display the kind of attitude about the rule of law that is found in this thread. It'll probably be impossible for some of us to put the blame where it really belongs when that day happens.
And as long as we have "adult airgunners" on public forums, entering into public discussions about "getting away" with violations of discharge ordinances, entering into public discussions about killing animals outside of the privilaged authority of a hunting license, and so on, the question isn't "if" that day will come, but "when."
JP
http://www.uplandhunter.net
