Safety First

East Hampton Town officials appear near ready to ink a new lease of parkland to the Maidstone Gun Club, and Town Attorney Robert Connelly has said any new lease “would require the club to prioritize its safety protocols. The town is confident that an agreement can be reached in which the well-being of our residents and the members of the club is paramount.”

“The town is confident” does a lot of heavy lifting in that statement: It’s imperative that town officials receive more than lip service this time from the club, which has betrayed the public trust and should be held accountable. Mere assurances regarding “the well-being of our residents” shouldn’t be adequate.

It’s important to review exactly what led the Maidstone Gun Club to be shut down in August 2022. A stray bullet from the club’s gun range struck a house on Merchants Path in Wainscott, just the latest incident involving reports of stray bullets finding their way to properties often well away from the range. Neighbors were alarmed enough to sue, and a judge granted a temporary restraining order in November 2022, shutting the club entirely.

What’s concerning: There is no reason for stray bullets to be an issue, and if they are it means the club is simply ignoring some important safety protocols. At first, the club’s backers tried to blame the stray bullets on others illegally shooting in the woods near the airport, but Town Police completed an investigation in January 2023 that concluded the bullets had come from the outdoor rifle range — and passed through barricades intended to stop them.

More alarming, the detective’s report concluded that an “assault-style” rifle was likely to blame for the bullet that ended up nearly a mile away, buried in the side of a private home. The report suggested that the way such a rifle was used at the gun range would be against the club’s own safety procedures. In the lawsuit, a Merchants Path homeowner alleged that police had said video from the gun club shooting area showed at least one of the guns had been illegally modified to make it fully automatic, increasing the likelihood that the powerful weapon would spray projectiles less accurately.

The Maidstone Gun Club has been on the airport property since 1982 and has deeper roots in history, and it’s a gun range frequently used by Town Police — it is a use worth preserving. But the danger it presents when its members refuse to follow safety protocols cannot be ignored, and the recent history of blatant disregard must be considered.

If the town agrees to a new lease, it must be able to convince neighbors that changes are in place to put safety above all other concerns, and that Maidstone Gun Club officials take their responsibility seriously and can be trusted. That’s not a small hurdle, and it shouldn’t be.