Is the City of Houston shutting down the Top Gun shooting range?

Image credit: Pixabay

This week’s post will be a rather short one, as I missed posting this past week, and I’m not in that big of a mood to spend hours belting out a post.

With that announcement aside, the word has gotten around on social media sites that the City of Houston has been taken to court by the owners of the Top Gun indoor shooting range, located in the Galleria area. Here is one website that has covered the story, while the local Courthouse News Service notes that the City of Houston Police Department has approved Top Gun’s shooting gallery permits every year since the business has been in operation. However, according to a legal complaint filed by Top Gun, the CoH Police Department did not hand out the permit this year, allegedly because Top Gun was out of compliance with City ordinances over the type of bullet traps Top Gun employs.

Having worked and lived in a Communist country, I am a strong supporter of gun ownership and rights, though I am not the type to go to the mat over the matter; I don’t have to worry too much, however, as there are plenty of others who are. I know a few of them and they have been alerted. I will say, however, that I have on occasion visited Top Gun with friends, and have spent some time doing target practice at the place. I have found the employees and business patrons to be very safety conscious and professional, an absolute must when you are handling firearms. I really would not like to see this law-abiding operation put out of business over some regulatory strong-arming by the City. There is way too much of this happening in America as it is.

3 Comments

  1. I agree completely. I took a firearms safety class there last year, and they were extremely professional and very safety-conscious. I also noticed the bullet traps were massive and extremely formidable looking. I don’t what kind of weapon would be required to get through those barriers, but I bet it wouldn’t be “street legal” anyway.

  2. Maybe if Top Gun had a bicycle rack in front, they might get some respect from Mayor Porker’s inspectors. Do any politicians claim the place as a residence?

  3. I am surprised that Top Gun’s suit did not reference section 121 of the ordinance, which clearly state that section 118 is a minimum requirement for shooting anything over .22 LR:

    Sec. 5-121. Special shooting gallery permit.permanent link to this piece of content

    (a)

    A pistol of a calibre and chamber larger than 22 calibre rim fire long rifle, whether rim fire or center fire, may be discharged upon a shooting gallery permitted under this article, provided that the shooting gallery holds a valid special permit issued under this section which authorizes the discharge thereof.

    The special permit shall be issued in the same manner in all respects as a regular shooting gallery permit under this article, except as provided in this section.

    (b)

    The applicant shall advise the building inspection division and the chief of police that he desires a special permit and shall designate the maximum caliber and the most powerful standard pistol cartridge proposed to be fired at the shooting gallery.

    (c)

    The construction standards specified in section 5-118 of this Code shall not apply except as minimum design criteria where reinforcement thereof is not necessary for the safe firing of the maximum calibre and cartridge proposed. The applicant shall cause the facility to be designed for the safe firing of the maximum calibre and cartridge proposed, and shall submit a certificate of a full-time practicing professional engineer registered by the state that the facility will, if constructed in accordance with the applicant’s plans and specifications, permit the safe firing thereof.

    (d)

    The applicant shall cause the facility to be designed so that with all firing positions in use for the rapid fire discharge of the maximum proposed calibre and cartridge specified, the facility will not cause a noise disturbance across any real property boundary of the proposed site or within any public space or right-of-way. The applicant shall submit a certificate by a full-time practicing professional engineer registered by the State of Texas who devotes at least 50 percent of his practice time to acoustical design certifying that the facility will, if constructed in accordance with the applicant’s plans and specifications, meet the noise standard specified in this subsection.

    (e)

    Prior to the issuance of a special permit, the shooting gallery shall be inspected in test operation by an engineer designated by the director of public works and engineering to determine that the facility has been constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications proposed, and that safety and noise standards specified in subsections (c) and (d) of this section have in fact been met in the actual operation of the facility.

    (f)

    Upon such determination and compliance with all other provisions of this article, the chief of police shall issue a special permit designating the maximum calibre and cartridge authorized to be fired upon the shooting gallery.

    (g)

    All design criteria, certificates and tests under this section shall be based upon the most powerful commercially manufactured cartridge loads for the pistol calibre and cartridge specified as produced by any manufacturer of handgun ammunition whose products are regularly sold in the city. Remanufactured or handloaded ammunition shall be permitted to be fired, provided that it is not loaded in such a manner as to be more powerful than the maximum load allowed by the permit.

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