Our Shooting Club was founded in 1928 and had been a premier club in the St. Louis area until we moved to our present location in 1976. Then in 1987 an injunction was entered against Glendale in favor of a neighbor who complained that noise from shooting on our range created a private nuisance. Under the injunction, we are severally limited as to hours of operation and particular firearms we are able to shoot on a given day. Only 3 days per week are we able to shoot anything larger than a .22 rimfire. We are limited to only 8 people shooting at any given time on the property, except when we hold shooting competitions, and we are limited in the number of shooting matches we can hold each year.

After Missouri passed its range protection act (which is set out in relevant part, below), Glendale filed a petition seeking to have the injunction set aside. We originally won our case in Circuit Court with a Summary Judgement. The case was appealed by our neighbor on grounds that the statute was unconstitutional and the case therefore went straight to the Missouri Supreme Court. The Supreme Court sent it back to the Circuit court and did not answer the constitutional question. At this time we are back at Circuit court trying to prove that circumstances have changed in hopes of having the injunction set aside or otherwise favorably modified.

Our club has suffered under this injunction for over 36 years. Per Missouri law any injunction against a range based on noise or other claim of nuisance should be "null and void".

Missouri State Statute 537.294 Section 2. All owners and authorized users of firearm ranges shall be immune from any criminal and civil liability arising out of or as a consequence of noise or sound emission resulting from the use of any such firearm range. Owners and users of such firearm ranges shall not be subject to any civil action in tort or subject to any action for public or private nuisance or trespass and no court in this state shall enjoin the use or operation of such firearm ranges on the basis of noise or sound emission resulting from the use of any such firearm range. Any actions by a court in this state to enjoin the use or operation of such firearm ranges and any damages awarded or imposed by a court, or assessed by a jury, in this state against any owner or user of such firearm ranges for nuisance or trespass are null and void.

Any help you could give us in this fight would greatly be appreciated.

Glendale Shooting Club