The Oglethorpe County Commission is expected to pass an ordinance Monday banning the discharge of firearms inside the neighborhoods. The change comes as Oglethorpe grows from a mostly forested county to a more developed one.
"These kinds of ordinances tend to go hand-in-hand when you get increased development," said Lee Carmon, planning director and general counsel of the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center. "People are out there in residential properties and want to be protected from stray bullets."
Carmon's center estimates the county is adding about 1 percent to its population each year. Census figures put the county's population at more than 13,000, up from 9,700 in 1990.
Still, the county's landowners raked in about $300,000 last year leasing land to deer hunters, according to the University of Georgia.
Commissioners say the law won't affect the county's hunting business.
"We just watered it down to the minimum," so the ordinance wouldn't apply outside the boundaries of subdivisions, said Commissioner T.Y. Harris, who proposed the law.
Crawford Mayor Allen Huff said he plans to suggest such a ban at an upcoming city council meeting.
Both the county commission and city council have received no opposition to the proposed bans.
Bobby Cook, who lives in a subdivision near Crawford, asked Harris propose the ordinance.
"All commissioners are doing is trying to protect the people who live in subdivisions, close together, and the kids that live in them," Cook said. "It's better to do something now than wait until something tragic was to happen."
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http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/12/99108