Shooting on private property with 4 acres in Va rural areas?

Is it legal to shoot in the county (Spotsy) on your own land in a rural area if you own 4 acres.

It will be about 200 yds from the back door to a rural road, the back yard has a deep valley in it so no chance of rounds escaping, and about 50 yds to the next house at the closest and 100-200 yds at the farthest.

I think there's something about 500 feet from an occupied dwelling without owner's permission, or bullets must not leave your property.

Also, I wonder about the noise. People in the vicinity already hear gunshots from hunters and a range with rifle fire nearby. I'd assume during the daytime it wouldn't be a problem.

Anyone have links to ordinances for Spotsy or Va in general? Since SD is legal on your property, and they can't arrest you and tack on noise violations if you shoot a burglar, it seems to make sense they can't do it for target practice if no bullets are flying off your land.

TIA

First you have to know what it's zoned then go to municode and look for restrictions.

Here's the link to the Spotsylvania County code:

http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=12105&stateID=46&statename=Virginia

Quick look reveals that if you are in a subdivision, the answer is no. Noise is not an issue, as firearms are specifically exempt.

TFred

Oh! Great. Nice resource TF. I'm not in a subdivision so it looks to be OK. I'll prob. call the Sheriff and ask as well.

Thanks so much, guys!

Badger Johnson said:

I'll prob. call the Sheriff and ask as well.

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Ya "might" to "ok" with that.. Generally they don't know all the gun laws and "guess" at what they think is right.

Badger Johnson said:

I'll prob. call the Sheriff and ask as well.

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Pretty dangerous course of action from someone who believes the only agenda of the Po-lice is to arrest people.

stay safe.

skidmark said:

Pretty dangerous course of action from someone who believes the only agenda of the Po-lice is to arrest people.

stay safe.

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Touche:lol:

The only real function of BEAT COP is to arrest people and they will find ways to do it if it doesn't involve too much hassle. What their function is, vs what their agenda is, what their philosophy is can be different (some truly want to protect and serve) They'll let people slide if it benefits them (paperwork, time constraints). Upper admin's agenda is to be political, get promoted, get out of law enforcement...

But we all have to come to grips with the idea that it is not their function to protect or serve any one individual person, and we're moving more and more to a police state. I might seem negative on that, but I'm prepared to be surprised pleasantly. It's becoming too common for the LEO to feel wrongly empowered and be judge jury and executioner, to arrest and put the person in the system and let the courts figure it out particularly if the individual 'rubs them the wrong way'. This is UNPROFESSIONAL. Everyone should be treated kindly and with the same courtesy and they should use correct judgment and not treat civilians who are confused or just being rowdy as predators and recidivists.

Badger Johnson said:

but I'm prepared to be surprised pleasantly.

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I call BS on this. See all of your posts at http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/s...be-interesting.-Try-to-put-it-on-the-calendar.

stay safe.

Badger Johnson said:

I might seem negative on that, but I'm prepared to be surprised pleasantly.

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Heh. I'm not.

skidmark said:

Pretty dangerous course of action from someone who believes the only agenda of the Po-lice is to arrest people.

stay safe.

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Actually, if you could trust them to give you an honest answer, they would be the right people to ask: "If I did ..., would you arrest me?"

Honesty is the key, however: if their sole motivation is to make arrests, and as we all know from prior posts ad nauseum, they are allowed to "deceive" to do their job, then it would follow that they would likely tell you, "No, of course not, when are you going to be shooting again??" and then show up and give you that free ride downtown.

Just sayin...

TFred