Man wants to build city's first indoor shooting range on South Boulevard WSOC TV

Publish date: 2024-05-04

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte may soon have its first indoor shooting range.

The owner of a gun store on South Boulevard submitted a rezoning request to build a two-story gun range behind his store.

There are plenty of places to buy guns in Charlotte, but 10 years after he opened Carolina Sporting Arms on South Boulevard, David Drummond said something is still missing.

“Today, the city of Charlotte doesn’t have a single indoor training facility in the city limits. We want to be the first,” he said. “And we want to be the best.”

Drummond said he wants to put the shooting range behind his existing store, and his proposal has raised some questions about shooting ranges.

On the other side of a dense thicket of bushes and trees is a big apartment complex. The range would also be about 100 yards from South Boulevard and the light rail.

Drummond knew the city would focus on the safety of the facility and he put a lot of the safety considerations in writing. Perimeter walls would be made of concrete and be eight inches thick. The ceiling would be four inches thick and made of more concrete.

The facility would also use rubber bullet traps to cut down on the noise.

Drummond said the noise generated by a gun range would be less than the trains and traffic that rumble by every day.

“We’re not going to produce any more noise -- actually less noise -- than our existing environment,” he said.

Residents and business owners in the south Charlotte neighborhood are behind Drummond’s idea.

“I’m sure if they built it, they’ll build it right and safe. You know, this community, everything is built on safety and families, so I think everything will be alright,” Gus Magitas, who owns the Light Rail Family Restaurant next door to the gun shop.

Daniel Dixon also supports the addition of a gun range and he lives in the apartments behind the proposed site.

“As long as that’s a controlled environment and as long as that area has security, I’m pretty much OK with it,” he said.

City Council will get their chance to weigh in on Drummond’s proposal next month.

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