From the Desk of Sheriff Anderson

I wanted to reach out to the public and address an ever growing concern I have after this weekend calls for service. I am proud to serve the rural community of Bates County. I have always pledged to support your Constitutionally Protected rights as an American Citizen. I will still pledge that to you here today. But what I want to talk about is the calls for service that we received this weekend and see an increase this time of year every year.

Over the past weekend Deputies have responded to two separate incidents involving residential houses being struck with gun fire. While we are still conducting the investigations, the office and the residents do not feel that there is anything nefarious about the incidents. What we do believe is that these are stray bullets fired from people who are sighting in their rifles in anticipation for that 30 point buck to cross their paths while they are hunting. We want to remind the public that while you may live in rural America you still have neighbors. We live in a community that those very neighbors pull together when there is a time of need. We take care of each other and our neighbors. With that said, we gun owners have a legal and moral obligation to our community to practice safe handling of firearms. The most important aspect of gun ownership is protecting the innocent people around you. Here are the basic rules when using, carrying and handling a firearm. We can all use this reminder even those of us who “have been handling and carrying guns since before Nixon was born”. We are often the ones who take gun safety for granted.

Safety Rules

1. Always treat a firearm as if it were loaded.

2. Always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction

3. Keep your booger picking finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot

4. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it

This brings me back to an issue I have raised for the last 10 years. This community, which I would suspect has approximately 90% gun ownership, needs and deserves a public gun range where you can safely sight in your gun and safely target practice. We are seeing new houses and population growth in many of our rural areas. This increased residential construction makes it harder for your average home shooting ranges to be compliant with safety measures. We as Bates Countians need to be asking our governing body to come up with a solution to serve our community better and to be safe when it comes to shooting sports.

As your Sheriff, I am only one voice in the County Government. I support a county owned public firearm range that is free to all the citizens we serve and to give Law Enforcement a place to conduct firearms training. Let’s come together to solve this issue for you, your neighbors and all of this community.

Sheriff

Chad Anderson

Ps if you know of someone who has 5 acres that are in a low laying area that berms could be built at a reasonable price please let us know!