“This Is Not the Middle East”
Leonard Knott
Observing that “this is not the Middle East,” Zygmund and Judith Pach of 1260 Tapley ¼ Line, RR1 Fraserville made an impassioned presentation to the Cavan Monaghan Township Council on September 14th to, “Amend the current firearms bylaw to severely restrict target shooting and ban the use of exploding targets.”
With four of the five councillors present, Council voted to amend the bylaw in consultation with by-law enforcement officers and police. The Pachs asked that they be consulted during the process.
Supported at the meeting by some of the 110 people who signed their petition, the Pachs told Council how they weren’t the only ones to suffer from the noise created by high calibre rifles shooting at exploding targets. The noise bothers people far away from the source of the noise, which often is the property next door to the Pachs. Judith Pach said, “Many people have dogs that are traumatized by gun fire”.
She added that one woman walking on the property next door to them was approached by four men and told to get off the property. Pach said it was unlikely four men would be living in the house on the property.
Referring to the property where most of the shooting occurs, Pach said the OPP told him, “They have a sweet little set-up there.”
One of the things that makes the gunfire so upsetting is that it happens at any time of the day or night, said Zygmund Pach. The noise is so bad that some people in the area are thinking of moving away. (On the other hand one potential property buyer said that he wanted land for target shooting and didn’t intend to build on it.)
The Pachs’ petition stated that, “… in our community there continues to be disruptive gunfire, sometimes at exploding targets; the concussion of which rattles windows and shakes pictures on the walls of our homes.”
Zygmund Pach said when people make up their own exploding targets, they use ammonium nitrite.
When Pach approached the OPP about the shooting, he said he was told they could do nothing about it as it is legal according to the current by-law.
To reassure Deputy Mayor John Fallis that the petitioners do not want to restrict target shooting entirely, and are not against the use of firearms, Zygmund Pach said “… we are not opposed to legal hunting in season, or the shooting of varmint and nuisance animals to protect livestock and/or property.” Nor are they against target shooting with small 22-calibre rifles, just not 50-calibre assault rifles.
In fact, he noted that “several hunters signed our petition.”
However, he did say the regulations regarding skeet shooting seem to be totally inadequate.
If the rifles used to shoot at exploding targets are 50-calibre, as the Pachs believe, then the noise resulting from exploding targets would be three times the permissible level, according to the RCMP.
Asked by Monaghan Ward Councillor Tim Belch what a 50-calibre rifle was, Pach told him that bullets fired by them “will penetrate through the brick of a house, and travel two to three miles.”
He added that the 50-calibre rifle was designed as a sniper weapon for the military.
According to the Pachs, the exploding targets can be bought online. Tightly packed into small jars, the targets have been tossed around nonchalantly by the shooters.
The Pachs said the firing did not come from just the one nearby property. It came from several further away as well. “Sometimes, they shoot into the air with bullets landing far away.” One councillor said there could be lead contamination of soil as a result.
