The Gunnery: Old Noarlunga residents gather to oppose shooting range plans

Southern suburbs residents have rallied after a local gun shop’s plan to open a shooting range near a primary school.

Residents gather at the Old Noarlunga institute hall to oppose The Gunnery’s plans to build a long-range rifle range in the area. Picture: Kaysee Miller

Old Noarlunga residents and parents from a local primary school have gathered in opposition of a local gun shop’s plans to build a 57,000 sqm shooting range in the region.

More than 30 residents attended the Old Noarlunga Community Residents Association (ONCRA) meeting on Thursday night.

Residents – who wished to remain anonymous out of concern for attracting negative attention – voiced their concerns around Christie’s Beach gun shop The Gunnery’s proposal to build the long-range shooting range on Piggott Range Road.

“It’s going to … create a bit of a gun culture,” one woman said.

“We’ve got a situation through COVID where you’ve got domestic violence and mental health issues and all of those things have absolutely escalated and guns can be a factor in that.

“So I don’t understand why a responsible government would accept that that’s a good thing to have in a small town that’s been through a lot.”

The facility would include club facilities for rifle, pistol and shotgun shooting and up to a 700m rifle range dependant on planning consent.

A man who lived close to the proposed shooting range said the range would be “bloody noisy”.

“This area is like a little amphitheatre and even if the decibel level reaches the same as the traffic on South Road it will still be a different noise,” he said.

“I think in the modern day and age to put a rifle range on top of a hill overlooking heavy residential one side and a historic town the other side is just fraught with danger.”

The Gunnery at Christies Beach have applied to build an outdoor shooting range and training facility at Old Noarlunga. Picture: Facebook/The Gunnery

The meeting heard parents at the local primary school – Old Noarlunga Primary – had launched their own petition opposing the plan.

A mother with two students at the small school – who wished to remain anonymous – said the petition had attracted more than 45 signatures.

“We’re not anti-guns and we’re not against the gun range but we don’t want it so close to the school and township,” she said.

“So basically it will be (operating) every day our children are at school … We don’t want our children to get used to gun shot sounds and be desensitised to gun shot sounds.

“We believe that kids should be scared of gun shot sounds and you’re going to have a huge range in anxiety for students at the school just because of the type of noise that it is.”

ONCRA president Bob Law said the group would continue to support and advocate for the community throughout the process.

“We’re here to support the residents on issues that will affect the town but it’s about the whole of the town and what they want to do,” he said.

“If the community don’t come to us, we don’t fight anything … but this does affect the town and it’s important that they are heard.”

The proposal is currently being finalised and when complete will be referred to the Environment Protection Authority for assessment before being sent to at least 10 neighbouring property owners – including the Department for Environment and Water – for consultation.