Men Face Charges Of Firing Guns In Manchester Neighborhood

Source: WMUR

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Two New Hampshire men are facing charges that they were target practicing in a Manchester neighborhood.

Manchester police were called to the Lake Shore Drive area at about 8:25 p.m. Sunday by neighbors who reported gunshots.

When police arrived, they found two men walking out of the woods.

Police said Edmund T. Joyce III, 42, and John Powers, 52, were charged with reckless conduct.

Police said the two acknowledged they had been target practicing.

One of the two was carrying a 9-mm handgun.

Read more: http://www.wmur.com/money/23194162/detail.html

giving law abiding owners a bad name and bad press. They should have all firearms taken from them and not allowed to own guns. Along with our Constitutional rights go responsibility to obey laws that protect innocent people in near by homes.

That is why they were charged with "reckless conduct" as opposed to any specific infraction. Now, they might have been dumbasses recklessly shooting close to houses, but here in Oklahoma it happens all the time when people move to the country and are shocked to find out that their neighbors (granted, on acreage) routinely shoot guns on their own land.

Is there an ordinance in Manchester that forbids any discharge of firearms? Since people hunt in the woods behind my house, you simply have to follow the law WRT appropriate distances from houses/road.

By state law (RSA 207:3-a), a hunter (or anyone else, for that matter) shall not discharge a firearm or bow and arrow within 300 feet of a permanently occupied dwelling without the landowner's permission. Doing so is a violation.

207:3-c Use of Firearms, Bow, or Crossbow in or Across Highway Prohibited. –
I. No person shall discharge a firearm, bow and arrow, or crossbow and bolt from within 15 feet of the traveled portion of or across any class I through V highway of the state. This section shall not apply to those persons holding a special permit pursuant to RSA 207:7-a.
II. No person shall discharge a firearm, bow and arrow, or crossbow and bolt from or across the following public highways of the state including the rights of way thereof:
(a) Route 93 from the New Hampshire/Massachusetts state line in the town of Salem to the New Hampshire/Vermont state line in the town of Littleton;
(b) Route 89 from the intersection with Route 93 in the town of Bow to the New Hampshire/Vermont state line in the town of Lebanon;
(c) Route 95 from the New Hampshire/Massachusetts state line in the town of Seabrook to the New Hampshire/Maine state line in the town of Portsmouth;
(d) Route 293 from the intersection with Route 93 in the city of Manchester to the intersection with Route 93 in the town of Hooksett;
(e) Route 393 from the intersection with North Main Street in the city of Concord to the Concord/Chichester town line;
(f) Route 202/9 from the intersection with Route 114 in the town of Henniker to the junction with Route 31 in the town of Hillsborough;
(g) Route 16, commonly known as the Spaulding Turnpike, from the intersection with Route 95 in the town of Portsmouth to the Milton/Middletown town line;
(h) Route 3, commonly known as the F.E. Everett Turnpike, from the New Hampshire/Massachusetts state line in the city of Nashua to the intersection with Route 101 in the town of Bedford;
(i) Route 101 from the intersection with Route 114 in the town of Bedford to the intersection with Route 1 in the town of Hampton.
III. Any person convicted of discharging a firearm, bow and arrow, or crossbow and bolt prohibited under the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a violation.

Might also fall under this:
207:37-a Negligent Discharge of Firearms, Bow and Arrow or Crossbow and Bolt. – Any person who shall negligently discharge any firearm, bow and arrow, or crossbow and bolt while on a hunting trip, in the field, or while target practicing, in such a manner that the life of any person is endangered or so as to cause damage to the property of another person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and at the discretion of the executive director, the hunting license of such a person may be revoked for a period not to exceed 10 years.

...which I already knew actually. The comment about no discharge within city limits (Manchester) is the real issue here I think.