The Scituate By-Law Review Committee met Monday night at the G.A.R. Hall, to discuss the emotional issue of the town’s Fire Arms By-Law and the safety of shooting on town owned land.
About 30 people turned out for the hearing, including hunters and residents concerned about the safety of shooting on 100 acres of conservation controlled land in Scituate’s West End.
Resident Karen Connolly is spearheading the effort to review the by-law. She told the By-Law Review Committee that her main concern is that the by-law allows for target shooting on conservation land.
“I don’t know whether the Conservation Commission has the right to overrule a by-law or not. But at the very least, I think we owe it to the people who are walking out there – that they wouldn’t … target shooting just should not be happening out there. According to sworn affidavits by people who are in this room tonight, they have seen evidence of that kind of thing going on and it’s not right and it’s not safe”, Connolly said.
By-Law Review Committee Chair Greg Harris said the committee will request that the Board of Selectmen ask Town Counsel to provide an opinion, on whether or not the Conservation Commission has the authority to set conditions that regulate shooting on conservation land.
Harris said, “We’re going to ask in a memorandum that they talk to Town Counsel, about what the Conservation Commission can actually do with their own land and whether there needs to be a by-law, to get some of the things that people want done. Can conservation do that with their own land, or are they stopped by state law? If they’re stopped by state law, does the general by-law have to be changed to deal with those issues”?
The public is invited to an informational meeting on the issue with the department of fish and wildlife at the Scituate Public Library, Wednesday night at 6:30.
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