Parents Fight Gun Range Next to School

Just feet away from Sprague Elementary School in Waterbury, a shooting range is slated to open, and parents and school officials are not happy about it.

“We teach our kids to stay away from guns and to never play with them, now they are going to put in a shooting range next to a school,” Lisa Lessard said. “We are giving our kids a mixed message."

The Waterbury Zoning commission recently approved plans to put a firing range in the basement of a building next door to the school.

Outraged parents are now firing off rounds of e-mails and letters to the city about it.

"You never know if a bullet will accidentally come through a wall. It could hit one of the kids over here," Brenda Farkash, a parent and resident of Waterbury, said.

Supt. David Snead is asking the zoning commission to reconsider.

“I ask that you strongly reconsider the opening of an indoor firing range next to a City elementary school where hundreds of children attend class and play outdoors on most weekdays throughout the school year,” Snead wrote in a letter to the commission.

Brian Griffith, who owns the range, has assured the city the shooting range will be underground and the walls will be lined with steel plates.

“Despite the developer’s assurances that the range will feature a state-of-the-art air handling system, I am still concerned that students may be exposed to lead or other hazards through the potential failure of the system, human error, or human carelessness,” Snead wrote.

Griffith said he will also use a state-of-the-art air handling system.

Donna Perreault, the principal of Sprague Elementary, said it's not enough.

"I worry about the students. I think we'll have to take other precautions," Perreault said.

Mayor Michael Jarjura said he is confident the commission made the right decision in approving the plans.

It's little consolation to parents who want to close the shooting range before it opens.

Parents have planned a rally at the school next Thursday at 10 a.m.

The only option parents have is to file a land use appeal with Supreme Court in the next 15 days.