BB Gun Use Outlawed in Public Places

City leaders unanimously agreed to outlaw BB gun use in all public parks, places or right-of-way areas (to include roads, highways or streets) within the city on Thursday.

Dunedin's Muscovy ducks can sleep a little sounder, provided they don't waddle from public property. City leaders unanimously agreed to outlaw BB gun use in all public parks, places or right-of-way areas (to include roads, highways or streets) within the city on Thursday.  BB guns may still be used on a person's private property or in a city-supervised program. One commissioner suggested also going to a shooting range for target practice. The stricter ordinance was brought forward by the Public Safety Committee after two Muscovy ducks were killed with a pellet gun at a neighborhood retention pond in November.   After the November incident, neighbors said they were alarmed at the sight of a gun being aimed at ducks. When deputies were …

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Leaders Decide Thursday on Tightening BB Gun Use

A proposed ordinance restricting BB gun use in all public areas will receive public comment for the final time at the city commission meeting May 3. Leaders supported tightened restrictions at the last public meeting.

Leaders To Widen BB Gun Restrictions

A proposed ordinance with language restricting BB gun use in all public areas will receive public comment for the final time at the city commission meeting May 3.

City leaders responded to the Public Safety Committee's request for tighter BB gun laws with even more restrictive language on Thursday. Leaders agreed with restricting BB gun use in city parks, as the Public Safety Committee proposed in response to the hunting of two invasive Muscovy ducks in a neighborhood pond in November, and they also asked City Attorney Tom Trask to add language to the city ordinance that would outlaw their use on all public property in the city limits. "To include public property ... I don't think it's at all unreasonable," said Commissioner Julie Scales, but shooting BB guns "in your own backyard, that's fine." Commissioner Dave Carson, who grew up in a hunting community where it was acceptable to store his hunting…

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City May Tighten BB Gun Laws

A rash of BB gun attacks last year prompted the Public Safety Committee to ask for tougher restrictions. A proposed new ordinance would make it illegal to fire a BB gun in city parks.

Residents outraged over the killing of two Muscovy ducks in a public retention pond in November are prompting leaders to reconsider city BB gun laws on Thursday. A law already on Dunedin's books makes it illegal for a person to fire a slingshot, bow, sling or “other similar device” within corporate limits, but BB guns are not included in the language (Section 50-2).  Now, the Public Safety Committee is recommending that city leaders add a subsection to the ordinance that makes firing BB guns "in any park within the corporate limits of the city" a punishable misdemeanor offense. In November, two Muscovy ducks were attacked by young men with pellet guns and reportedly killed for food in a neighborhood retention pond between Alamo and Paloma …

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