Cincinnati City Councilmember Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney has filed an official motion to request a public hearing about the Cincinnati Police Department's gun range, located in Evendale, near Lincoln Heights and Woodlawn.
In a release, Kearney says children from Lincoln Heights Elementary School started their first day of classes with the sound of gunshots in the background.
“It was heartbreaking to hear this account by a member of the Lincoln Heights community,” she said.
The hearing would bring together city council, the Hamilton County Commissioners, Cincinnati Police Department, Lincoln Heights City Council and other stakeholders to discuss the range and its impact on the community.
“We will take a hard look at the environmental impact of our gun range in its current location: the lead poisoning issue, the effects of the noise, and the psychological effects of living in an environment where children and adults hear constant gunfire,” Kearney says. “I understand the importance of having a gun range where our Cincinnati Police Department’s 1,000 members can practice target shooting and where the K-9 units are trained, but it must not be located in a residential area. We are harming the neighboring communities, and that must stop. We know that Black and Brown communities are more likely to be victimized by environmental hazards, adding to the higher rates of health problems. The gun range is yet another example.”
The gun range has been there since the 1940s and more than 1,000 officers currently use the facility for handgun training. Cincinnati Police spokesman Lt. Steve Saunders told The Cincinnati Enquirer that some officers go there for additional training on rifles and shotguns or practice shooting during lunchtime, but he's not aware of anyone using the range at night. In February of this year, CPD agreed not to shoot their guns there past 3 p.m. Federal agencies also use the range for training.
The gun range has been an ongoing issue for residents.
A change.org petition by Carlton Collins, a member of the The Heights Movement, says:
"The gun range operates Monday through Saturday and gun shots can be heard from as early as 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM in accordance with Ohio law. According to their Facebook page, this is also the site where they complete K-9 training for the department. Guns that are fired range from handguns to shotguns to AR-15 style rapid-fire weaponry and can be heard loudly echoing through the Village of Lincoln Heights, City of Lockland, and the City of Woodlawn. It is customary for children and adults to hear gunfire and be completely unmoved by its duration or ferocity given its normalization...
Outside of the noise pollution and impacts on public health, the range itself is not secure enough to stop a persistent child from accessing the range — I know many who considered it a game to collect the bullets and/or shell casings after a quick hop of the six-foot fence. Given the desensitization and/or lack of fear that is normally associated with youth hearing gunshots, there is no reasonable expectation that youth who grow up in these conditions would fear gunshots without seeing a weapon. This is the unfortunate reality for past and current youth living in the area. Moreover, the impacts on the neurological and psychological development of those living in these communities that rival the experiences of military personnel fighting in the Middle East and other war-torn areas."
In 2009, we reported on an incident where a ricocheting bullet flew over a concrete wall and broke the windshield of a citizen’s car.
And in 1999, city officials were also considering moving the range, but the police union opposed the move and called any safety concerns overblown.
During a council meeting yesterday, Mayor John Cranley said he is not against moving the range and said the city has offered to sell it to Evendale because the village "eventually want(s) to see that as a manufacturing jobs site facility," he said. "That purchase offer has been in their corner for a long time."
But Cranley said Evendale would need to help the city pay for and secure an alternate range location. Council is looking into options and funding sources for a new site, according to Kearney.
Vice Mayor Christopher Smitherman had previously asked for the logistics and pricing it would take to enclose the 29-acre range at its current location. According to reports, it would cost $2.7 million to block off the range and add HVAC.
“There is a viable remote location for the gun range, and necessary relocation funds exist somewhere, so we must move with alacrity to find both,” Kearney says.
Councilmember P.G. Sittenfeld has agreed to host the hearing in his Education, Innovation and Growth Committee, which also oversees environmental issues.
