News

Shooting range triggers rural uprising

Aerial photo shows site of a proposed shooting range off Summer Road.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 7, 2025

A shooting range off Summer Road in Edneyville may be able to go forward despite broad opposition from its rural neighbors.

Henderson County’s Technical Review Committee on Tuesday suggested conditions but made no decisions that would derail approval of the firing range on 12 acres off Summer Road. Development permit applicant Andrew Riddle said the R-3 zoning of the vacant land allows the gun range.

“I think it stops with the TRC because it’s thoroughly entitled within the zoning ordinance,” said Riddle, a developer who is also chair of the county Zoning Board of Adjustment. “There’s no special-use permit, there’s no variance. It’s an approved use by right in the ordinance.”

The TRC on Tuesday reviewed Riddle’s major site plan application, which proposes to develop the outdoor commercial shooting range on 12 acres subdivided from a larger 50-acre tract owned by Ruby and William Lefler. The site plan shows 40 parking spaces, a 12x40 office, 12x40 classroom structure and a restroom building. Under the county’s land-use code, outdoor shooting ranges must be designed to contain all projectiles fired on-site and limit hours to 9 a.m.-8 p.m. The operator would be required to apply for permits for special events such as turkey shoots and competitions.

Neighbors have mounted an aggressive campaign to oppose the range.

“It’s super dangerous,” said Dan Kinkel, who lives on Summer Road. “Somebody’s gonna get killed the way this thing is being laid out on the land.”

Kinkel said he and other neighbors had gathered 600 signatures on a petition opposing the shooting range.

“Every neighbor is upset," he said. "We haven’t found one person that supports this range going in. It’s within 600 feet of some of these houses and there’s hundreds of houses that are probably 3,000 feet (away), which is well within the range of being hit by a stray bullet.”

Firing ranges have provoked widespread opposition wherever they’ve been proposed in recent years. Proposals to build them have been shot down by either the Board of Commissioners or Zoning Board of Adjustment in the Macedonia Road area of Saluda, Pinnacle Mountain, Deep Gap and BRCC. Riddle, who holds an option to buy the 12-acre site near the Polk County line, said the range would meet a need.

“There is a demand for an outdoor commercial shooting range in Henderson County,” he said. “This is a range that I’m applying for and I alone. There’s no other entities involved in it at this time.”

County Commissioner Jay Egolf said Tuesday night that he had received a lot of calls about the proposal but that county administrators had told him the application does not come before the Board of Commissioners.

Residents opposed to the shooting range were led by Andrea Little Gray, a ninth-generation native of Henderson County, and Kinkel, a 24-year combat veteran and retired sergeant major of the U.S. Army Special Forces. They issued a long statement on Tuesday listing reasons why the county should deny a development permit.

“This facility stands in direct conflict with the Henderson County 2045 Comprehensive Plan , which outlines a clear vision to protect and conserve our rural character, agricultural roots, and the safety and harmony of our communities,” it said. “We are not opposed to responsible firearm ownership. However, placing a commercial shooting range within close proximity to homes, farms, livestock and waterways is an incompatible and unsafe use of land in this area.”

The statement also cited:

• Noise pollution: “Gunfire is not a minor nuisance —it’s a disruptive, stress-inducing form of noise pollution. The sharp, repetitive sound of gunfire can carry for miles and shatter the peace of homes, porches, schools and places of worship."

• Safety: “The proposed location is dangerously close to hundreds of homes — some within 650 feet. Stray rounds are a real and documented threat , whether from negligence or missed shots. A standard .22 caliber bullet can travel up to 4,500 feet, and high-powered rifles can travel over 12,000 to 21,000 feet.”

• Environmental threats: “Outdoor gun ranges introduce dangerous lead contamination into the environment, a threat well documented by the EPA and legal cases across the country.”

• Livestock and farming: “Beyond environmental toxicity, constant noise from gunfire stresses livestock, impacting their health, behavior and productivity. This has real economic consequences for our farmers and disrupts the agricultural rhythm that defines Edneyville.”