Neighbors Say Proposed Aiken Shooting Range Too Close to School

Aiken, SC—Some Aiken residents are fired up about a proposed shooting range that might be headed to their neighborhood. And, the area targeted for the project, is right down the road from an elementary school.

Thursday night, neighbors in the area near East Aiken Elementary School plan to take their signatures by way of a petition, and their complaints to a re-zoning meeting. The land sits along Rushton Road, which runs behind the school.

The landlord says he’s leasing part of that land to Sean Power, a local Aiken businessman, who has plans to put a skeet shooting range on the property.

A zoning hearing will be held Thursday, where the Aiken County Planning Commission will have to approve that the land be re-zoned to a “rural district” area. Neighbors we spoke with say any kind of shooting range there is too close to the school, and worry it will bring in noise to the neighborhood.

James Darby, Aiken, SC: “We don’t want guns going off all day long and things like that. This is a nice, quiet, peaceful neighborhood, that’s what I like about it. That’s why I moved here because it’s quiet…we don’t need guns going off and stuff like that.“

The school district plans to send a representative to the re-zoning meeting Thursday.

Sean Power, the man who plans to lease that land, did not return our calls for comment.