Wisconsin has a Range Protection Act in place to keep such things from happening, but it doesn't stop NIMBY types from still trying.
Several years ago there was an incident at Schultz's Gun Club (AJDual's club) in Muskego. Two guys were there shooting .30 cal somethings. Supposedly a round went over a treeline that's about 75 feet tall out about 150 yards from the benches, then began to lose energy after about 2,000 feet, dropped to a few feet off the ground, then flattened trajectory to go through the front window of a house. It still had the energy to penetrate a cabinet door in the kitchen and lodge itself in a 2"x4".
The NRA brought out ballistics experts who said it couldn't have happened. Nevertheless, the town police chief demanded the club put all sorts of safety measures in place, and there was pressure on the owner of the land to sell it to developers.
I seem to recall it was recently discovered that the errant round was from a drive by shooting or something like that. Maybe AJ can elaborate.
It was before my time, but word was that the house in question with the impossible rising bullet holes, the guy was raided for selling drugs shortly afterward.
There were reports of rounds going by peoples homes last fall, on the opening day of deer season. Obviously it was poachers or some such activity, like an impromptu sight-in someone was trying to do in their own backyard. The area around the club is relatively suburban, with some legacy farm-fields, but I think some shotgun or bowhunting is still allowed. Anyway, the club was approached about it by the local PD, and the gate logs were produced, as were the camera video feeds showing the club and it's firing line were empty when the shots were reported.
Also, they showed the police the deer stand the club's neighbor had put up right on the fence line above one of our pistol action bay's backstop.
(It got that pistol bay closed for the better part of
The relationship between the club and the "city" has gotten positively chummy since then. There's even agreements to take the city's road/highway construction dirt for our berms if possible.
Anyway, my understanding is that a couple of things have really cemented the club's long term safety.
1. The previously mentioned WI range protection act.
2. The club has bought out all the other members of the land-holding group that owned the club's lands. (The club grew out of five original families fishing/hunting shacks bought together in the 1950's.)
3. The WI DNR has the club's back to some degree now because of it's location on a large marshy lake as wetlands/lowlands, and considers it a low-impact use of the land.
4. The club has bought a few small adjacent properties. They won't do much to increase shooting space, but any added buffer is a good thing.
There's also at least two other busy shotgun/trap clubs on the lake near our club as well, and the area is a massive duck hunting location during the season, so that means our club does not stick out like a sore thumb noise-wise like some other clubs might.
