By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
When Geneva Township Trustee Bob Russell hears gunshots in the rural parts of the township, he is never too concerned.
But when Conneaut Police Officer Chris Hagstrom hears gunshots, it is a totally different situation.
While residents of most townships can shoot the guns they want, when they want, with little interference by local police or zoning officials, city and village residents are confined to much stricter laws and ordinances regarding any type of firearm or projectile, Russell said.
“People can really pretty much shoot anywhere in the township,” Russell said. “I mean, there are certain places you wouldn’t want to be shooting, but if you are safe, you are legal.”
“People who want to target shoot are definitely within their rights,” he said. “That’s why some people move into a township. Some people want to services the city provides and other people want the more lenient zoning of a township.”
Ashtabula Police Sgt. John Koski said gun laws in Ashtabula are very simple.
“It is simple, simple, simple,” he said. “You cannot, under any circumstances, discharge a firearm, bow and arrow, or anything that shoots ‘missiles’ as it is read in the law.”
There is no hunting within city limits and there are no licensed firing ranges — except for the police-only range — in the city, Koski said.
“As a right, residents can obtain and license to carry a concealed weapon, so they can legally carry firearms,” Koski said. “But they cannot shoot it.”
Hagstrom said Conneaut’s firearms laws are similar and extend to bb guns, airsoft guns, slingshots and even throwing stones or rocks.
“The citation or penalty reflects the situation,” Hagstrom said. “It depends on who is around, where the gun was fired and if anything was hit. We look at all the circumstances, but discharge a weapon and you will be cited.”
Koski said it is also the right of every property owner to defend that property with a firearm.
“Obviously firearms are used to defend a homestead,” Koski said. “That is an affirmative defense and the burden is on the shooter to prove that you or another person in the residence was in danger of great physical harm.”
Shooting a firearm within Ashtabula limits is a first-degree misdemeanor with punishment of up to $1,000 and six months in jail, Koski said.
Shoot a gun at a person or residence or out of a vehicle, or under the influence of alcohol and the charges bump up to the felony level, he said.
Township neighbors who don’t appreciate gunfire are also out of luck, Russell said, as zoning for noise outlines commercial and industrial noise, not gunshots.
In Conneaut, Hagstrom said noise isn’t the primary issue for firearms citations.
“The firearms ordinance definitely trumps the noise ordinance,” he said.
Russell said township residents can enjoy their Second Amendment rights, but he hopes everyone stays safe.
“The trustees always encourage good safety practices when it comes to firearms,” Russell said. “The freedom to shoot and just to use your own property more liberally is why a lot of people live in a township.”
