On Monday, Edgartown selectmen said they planned to ask voters to indefinitely postpone action on a warrant article that would have restricted the discharge of a weapon within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling without the permission of the owner. State regulations already prohibit such action, but the Edgartown bylaw would have encompassed private shooting ranges, which are currently exempt from the restriction.
With several people in the audience with a direct interest in the article, including Ron Monterosso, whose Chappy home shooting range spurred the article, prior to any discussion, selectmen said that they’d already made their decision.
“I think Pam [Dolby, town administrator] might have told you that we are going to, at this meeting, vote to indefinitely postpone it at town meeting,” Selectman Art Smadbeck said.
Edgartown Police Officer Joel DeRoche, a firearms expert, told selectmen he was hoping they would take that action. Officer DeRoche said that as currently written, the article would adversely affect hunters.
Former Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club president and avid hunter Tom Taylor of Edgartown agreed with Officer DeRoche.
“There’s some language that we would like to address that won’t give people the impression that it’s an anti-hunting, anti-sporting move,” Mr. Taylor said.
He said similar bylaw requests has been popping up in other towns across Massachusetts. He described it as a backdoor move to ban the discharge of a firearm. He said that as the article now reads, target shooting and hunting would become illegal. “I’ve had multiple phone calls from people in town saying, Oh, the town’s going to try to ban hunting,” he said.
“Absolutely not.” Mr. Smadbeck said. “If anything, we would rather encourage it.”
Asked by a member of the audience why the article was placed on the warrant, the selectmen deferred to Mr. Taylor, who said he believed there was a resident on Chappaquiddick who had been firing an AR15 semiautomatic rifle, and in doing so, had upset his immediate neighbor as well as other nearby residents.
“I just wanted to point out significant misinformation that was just presented,” Mr. Monterosso said, following the vote by selectmen to postpone the article. “There’s not close proximity.There is no AR15. So, let’s just leave it at that.”
“The way this was handled was entirely inappropriate,” Mr. Monterosso said. “It was secretive. There was no transparency. It didn’t appear on any of the selectmen’s minutes at any point.”
“That’s one of the reasons it’s going to be indefinitely postponed,” Mr. Smadbeck said.
Selectmen Margaret Serpa said that the matter would be referred to the planning board.
Selectman Michael Donaroma was absent from the meeting.