Mentor City Council Starts Process To Allow Shooting Range In City

Mentor City Council began the first step in allowing a professional indoor shooting range in the city.

They passed a pair of resolutions during their most recent meeting that initiated the process.

One resolution recommended a change to the city code that would allow people to fire a gun in the city -- but only in a commercial indoor shooting range.

The second resolution suggested that such ranges be allowed in the city's industrial zones.

Council passed both resolutions unanimously.

The next step will be for Mentor Planning Commission to propose these amendments to the city code, as well. Finally, Council would need to pass the Commission's amendments that they initially recommended.

The issue initially came up when a business owner asked if it would be possible to open a commercial shooting range in Mentor, City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said.

Under the current city code -- which doesn't allow firing a gun in Mentor, except in circumstances of self-defense -- the answer is "no," Filipiak said.

"So, he asked, do we have any objections to that kind of business," Filipiak said. "The answer -- after talking to Council -- was 'no.'"

Filipiak added that the resolutions with their proposed amendments (which are attached to this story as a PDF) were specifically worded to only allow professional indoor shooting ranges -- and, even then, only in Mentor's industrial zones.

"We don't want private gun clubs because those are much more difficult to control," he said.

These amendments, if ultimately approved, would only allow for the possibility of a professional shooting range.

The specific businesses would still need a conditional use permit from the Planning Commission and a discharge permit from Mentor's safety director, which is also Filipiak.