What does it mean to recklessly shoot a gun?
One Evesham couple is asking that very same question — and is leading the charge to reform gun discharge laws in the township in the name of safety.
For the past month, Christina Dutcher and her husband have been asking the Evesham Township councilmembers to examine the gun laws in the township after an incident happened with a neighbor in their Tomlinson Mill neighborhood.
Dutcher said she heard gunshots one day coming from a nearby home and called the police, who arrived on scene and found a neighbor had set up several targets in the house’s backyard and was firing rounds at the makeshift gun range.
The police arrived on the scene and told Dutcher and her husband that they could file a noise complaint. The department told the Dutcher’s that there was nothing more they could do without a proper ordinance in place, she said.
After some research, Dutcher said she and her husband found that there was no ordinance in place in the township to prohibit the shooting of a gun on private property. There is an ordinance banning guns from parks, she said, but that’s it.
“I believe in the Second Amendment, but the discharge of weapons needs to be regulated,” she said. “All surrounding townships have one in place, except for Medford Township.”
One cannot “recklessly” shoot a gun in the township, she said, but it’s a gray area and hard to define.
There is also currently an ordinance in place prohibiting the shooting of guns within 450-feet of a home when hunting, but nothing about shooting ranges.
After bringing the issue up to the township council in February, Mayor Randy Brown asked the police department and Township Solicitor John Gillespie to research the amount of gunshot incidents in the township — and if adopting an ordinance would be worthwhile.
Since 2010, Police Chief Michael Barth said the Evesham Township Police Department has received 65 calls for shots fired within the township. However, the vast majority of these incidents were related to hunting, which is legal in several areas of Evesham.
When asked if he was comfortable with the current ordinances in the township to uphold the safety of its residents, Barth said he was.
“I don’t think this is an epidemic affecting our town. Many of the calls we receive are for hunting and not for reckless acts,” he said.
Several councilmembers agreed with Barth’s assessment and questioned the necessity of such an ordinance.
“I don’t see the need for such an ordinance. We run the risk of trying to create a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. We don’t need to be a nanny state,” Deputy Mayor Steve Zeuli said.
Councilman Ken D’Andrea said he was all for not “over legislating,” but he would be in favor of something that regulated the discharge of firearms in the township. When it comes to the safety of the town, he said, everything should be explored.
“I shouldn’t be allowed to shoot a gun in my backyard,” he said. “Is there a way we can regulate this?”
The council will continue to investigate the need for an ordinance, and Brown congratulated Dutcher and her husband for bringing an issue that needs to be addressed to their local government leaders.
