Swain County commissioners are considering possible locations for a law enforcement gun range after Sheriff Curtis Cochran explained the inconvenience of having to rely on the availability of ranges in other counties.

After more than two years of tests and evaluations, the end is now in sight for an effort to remove 450 tons of lead-contaminated soil from a shooting range at Southwestern Community College. The job will cost $237,000, but by the end of the summer the soil should be excavated, treated, hauled away and replaced with new, uncontaminated soil.

Work has begun on a controversial Haywood County indoor shooting range that had some residents at odds last winter.

New rules are now in place to govern commercial outdoor gun ranges in Haywood County.

The lead-contaminated shooting range at Southwestern Community College in Webster is in for another round of testing after the state called for further sampling to determine levels of several other potentially toxic substances in the soil.

Rules governing where commercial outdoor shooting ranges can go in Haywood County would provide security and peace of mind for rural residents who fear the intrusion of a gun range in their midst, but shooting advocates fear the proposed regulations are too prohibitive.

A moratorium on commercial outdoor shooting ranges took effect in Haywood County this week, temporarily halting any new shooting ranges from cropping up while the county crafts regulations to govern their safety and location.

A public hearing on an outdoor shooting range moratorium in Haywood County got off to a dicey start this week.

Outdoor shooting ranges could soon be under the microscope in Haywood County.

Backlash from rural residents in Haywood County who fear an indoor shooting range proposed in their midst will disrupt their traditional way of life has got the attention of Haywood County commissioners.