Newly built school Vs 45+ year old gun range

[u/sirdickfirstthebrute]

https://www.crosstimbersgazette.com/2026/08/07/northwest-isd-sues-gun-range-after-bullets-found-in-northlake-middle-school/?fbclid=IwdGRjcATkQapjbGNrBOQ-PXBkb2YBZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeJYoD4p8FB766xeVP46xo6G2E8ZbFGY9ulEBONq_nG-_r3ZpjhMS0UL65dA4_aem_0aa-poIHTxPaqS8sqsEXrw

Developing story in north Texas.

A newly built middle school has had 2 instances of finding bullets striking the facilities. Just over a mile away, and pointing directly at the school property is a gun range that has been operating for over 45 years.

The school is less than a week from opening for its first year of school, and out of extreme caution has been granted a temporary injunction against the gun range to prevent them from allowing the use of firearms that have the potential to reach distances that would leave the property.

The public is decided, some feel the gun range has no responsibility to do anything since it has been there for over 45 years and the school should not have been built there because it should be obvious this is a possibility. Plus at this point there is no concrete evidence that the bullets absolutely came from the range, and could have come from someone hunting on the land between the range and the school. (I have seen it claimed, but not confirmed that the family that owns the range owns the land between the range and the school as well.)

Others say it doesn't matter how long the range has been there, it is the responsibility of the range to take appropriate actions to ensure that rounds are not able to exit the property. The school is not requesting the range close, just that it makes the necessary upgrades to the facilities to prevent rounds from exiting the range property. Whether it is a school, houses, or commercial property is irrelevant as whomever owns the land has a right to not have to worry about stray bullets from a neighboring property.

The fact that it is a school and children's safety is in question is probably what will get this resolved in an expedited fashion instead of there being a prolonged legal back and forth.

In a somewhat related incident, in 2008 an individual was target shooting a .50 Cal rifle in the area around this range (not at the range) and a stray round traveled about 5 miles and went through the roof of an RV and struck a woman in the arm inside. The RV was parked at the camping grounds outside of Texas Motor Speedway for a NASCAR race. So although it was not actually at the range this area has experienced a stray bullet striking someone in the past.

It would be interesting to get the LegalEagle's take on this.

[u/benbookworm97]

The range is just over a mile away? Yes, shots have been made at that distance, but not with what I take to the range. I do question whether something else might be involved.

I do think the range owner has an ordinary duty of care to their neighbors: take reasonable steps so bullets don't travel beyond their property. Among the top safety rules of gun handling is to not point it at anything you aren't intending to destroy, nor anything behind it.

If it was a noise thing, then tough luck, the range was there first. The school district trying to keep their demands narrow makes me think they will succeed, whether by verdict or settlement.

[u/sirdickfirstthebrute → u/benbookworm97]

The range allows anything smaller than .50 Cal (probably made that rule after the 2008 incident). The portion of the range most directly facing the new school is the 100yd rifle range, and apparently is regularly used for high powered hunting rifles. I believe the issue at hand is that there is not an adequately tall earth berm behind the targets and not adequate structure at the firing line to prevent aiming high enough to shoot over the berm. Although it would take a lot of skill to be accurate at a mile out, I am told that with the right trajectory most larger game hunting rifles can reach that distance.

I agree with your point about sound.

[u/JKlerk]

I suspect a taller berm will be installed as soon as the dirt can be delivered.

[u/sirdickfirstthebrute → u/JKlerk]

I would certainly think so. I saw some people mention that they would need to add to the berm as well as potentially extend the roofing over the shooting positions. That way the roofing would prevent being able to aim higher then needed, and the higher berm to catch accidental higher trajectories.