Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Hello Everyone,

I have a niece who lives in King George. She recently purchased legally a hand gun. She lives in an area that is considered rural. She wants to be able to practice her target shooting skills in her yard. She has houses that are closer than a 1000 feet away. I use the 1000 foot rule because I am a hunter in MD. What are the rules in VA for discharging a fire arm? Can anybody give exact rules and regulations that I can pass on to her. She does not want to get into any trouble.

Thank you

From the VA DGIF website: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/hunting/regulations/

It shall be unlawful to discharge a firearm within any densely populated area: within 200 yards from any structure or within 100 yards from any public street, secondary road, or highway within the city, except on a permitted firing range or at or upon the property of another without permission.

I wasn't able to find any additional information on the COV site, but you can search it from this link:

http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode

^^^^^^^^^^

Thank you, I will pass the info on to her.

except on a permitted firing range or at or upon the property of another without permission.

I hope that is a typo or I'm reading it wrong.

Shouldn't that say "or upon the property of another with permission"

I couldn't find that regulation text in the link provided. Then again it is 0400 right now.

AlanM wrote:I couldn't find that regulation text in the link provided. Then again it is 0400 right now.

It's under the Regulations link shows restrictions by municipality.

I guess it depends on whether or not the "or" is part of the exception or the first part of that sentence.
I hate legalese.

So before I ever got into hunting and learned the regs stated above, I used my backyard without thinking twice about it. But I did take common sense approaches:
1) Talked to the neighbors and let them know that I was going to be back there shooting
2) contacted the Sheriff's office to let them know, giving my phone number and time window

Never had a problem for the last 18 years living here. Google earth shows houses within the 200yd boundary of where I shoot; but funny thing is those neighbors shoot as well.

MNMGoneShooting wrote:Never had a problem for the last 18 years living here. Google earth shows houses within the 200yd boundary of where I shoot; but funny thing is those neighbors shoot as well.

At their own targets or are they returning fire?

Back in Ohio I once asked my barber where he shot (meaning practiced).
He answered, "Oh, I shoot at my in-laws."
"Really, how much do you lead them?" I responded.

AlanM wrote:

MNMGoneShooting wrote:Never had a problem for the last 18 years living here. Google earth shows houses within the 200yd boundary of where I shoot; but funny thing is those neighbors shoot as well.

At their own targets or are they returning fire?

Back in Ohio I once asked my barber where he shot (meaning practiced).
He answered, "Oh, I shoot at my in-laws."
"Really, how much do you lead them?" I responded.

LOL - Sometimes I wonder if they see my targets and shoot at them
No return fire; we're all neighbors just believing in our right to keep our guns and make sure they are operational and we know how to use them.

I live near our county sheriff. Back in the day when I was on social media, she would ask me if that was me doing all that shooting.