Long-awaited Hartselle shooting range near completion
For the Enquirer
Hartselle Police Chief Justin Barley said he came before the City Council Oct. 8 because he didn’t want anyone to call the cops on him.
Workers were busy installing a new police shooting range on city property but before officers could use it, they needed the council to revise the city’s firearms ordinance to allow them to fire weapons within the city limits, something normally illegal, Council President Kenny Thompson said. “It’s a commercial area but it is in the city limits, so we didn’t want to be violating the city ordinance,” Barley said.
At the recent meeting, the council first voted to suspend the rules so they could immediately consider revising the firearms ordinance instead of introducing the proposed change at one meeting and voting on it at another. Then the council voted unanimously to revise the ordinance to allow the shooting range.
One councilman noted during the meeting that the revision in the ordinance could open the door to a private firing range should someone wish to build one in the future.
For decades Hartselle police have been without a firing range, unlike many cities around them, Barley said after the meeting.
“We beg, borrow, and hopefully someone is nice enough to let us use their range,” the chief said. Most recently, Hartselle police have been using the Mor-gan County Sheriff ‘s Office firing range, he said.
“Since I’ve been here – for 26 years – we have used Browns Ferry’s (range), which was very inconvenient,” Barley said. “We’ve used Decatur’s. We’ve used Trinity’s. We’ve used Priceville’s, when they had one. We’ve used Falkville’s.” As Morgan County’s second-largest city and thirdlargest law enforcement agency, Hartselle needs its own shooting range, the chief said.
“It’s really something too important to not have our own,” Barley said. “We really need the flexibility of being able to have one when we need it. There are times when maybe someone’s gun is acting up and we really need one of our armorers to work on it and test fire it. It’s much, much easier to do that when you have your own range.” The range is being built off North Sparkman Street.
“We own some property near the industrial park where the city incinerator is,” the chief said.
Work on the range began in mid July.
“We are two to three weeks from being finished,” the chief said.
On the perimeter of the range there will be a 12-foot tall berm. There will also be a perimeter fence for security, the chief said. There will be six shooting lanes for officers to practice. The cost of the project is expected at about $15,000, Barley said, though he does not have the final figure yet.
“I felt like I had enough money left over from last year’s budget to pay for most of it,” the chief said. “I didn’t have to make any special budgeting. It will be a much-needed resource for the Police Department. It’s actually exceeded my expectations. I’m happy we finally figured out a way to do it because the whole time I’ve been here there has been a need and we didn’t necessarily have the place to do it.” He said the landfill was a consideration over the years.
“But because they were using it, it was a little tougher logistically where the range would need to be,” the chief said. “And then to get a road and drainage so that we could actually use it was going to be very, very expensive.”
Barley
