Christopher Dunagan

Special to the Kitsap Sun

Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club will now need two approved permits — not just one — to resume shooting at its gun range on Seabeck Highway.

In addition to land-use permits, the gun club must receive approval of a shooting-range-operating permit, as required by a 2014 county ordinance, according to an order issued Friday by Judge Pro Tem Jay Roof in Kitsap County Superior Court.

The range has been closed to all shooting since Dec. 2, when Judge Susan Serko of Pierce County Superior Court found the gun club in contempt of court for failing to apply for land-use permits within six months, as she had previously ordered. The land-use permits are needed to remedy violations of county code, including clearing, grading and other construction conducted without permits, Serko ruled.

In April 2015, Roof prohibited shooting at the range when the club failed to apply for an operating permit. The permit, required by the new county ordinance, spells out minimum standards of operation for shooting ranges in unincorporated Kitsap County. About a year later, Roof lifted that injunction and allowed shooting to resume after the club applied for the permit under protest.

Since the gun range is already closed under the Pierce County order, Roof’s ruling on Friday has no immediate effect. But it will require that the club obtain an approved operating permit — not just an approved application — before shooting can resume.

Roof said his latest ruling on Friday reinforces his position that the county ordinance is constitutional and does not violate the club’s Second-Amendment rights to possess firearms. The question of constitutionality is under appeal to higher courts, he noted, but that does not prevent him from issuing a permanent injunction that prohibits shooting until an operating permit is approved.

Roof supported the county’s petition, filed by deputy prosecutor Christy Palmer, which states in part, “It is proper and necessary for the court to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting KRRC from operating a shooting facility until it has obtained an operating permit. Such an injunction will prevent KRRC from operating a shooting facility in violation (of county code) and will also provide an incentive for KRRC to not only submit an application but to cooperate in seeing its application through the entire permitting process.”

During Friday’s hearing, Bruce Danielson, KRRC’s attorney, told Roof that the gun club is doing all it can to apply for a permit and move it through the permitting process.

“We are doing our best,” he said, adding that the club has filed an appeal with the county hearing examiner to determine if its previous shooting-range application is still valid. County officials had refused to renew the application for lack of action by the club.

Meanwhile, Danielson said, the club has “doubled down” by refiling the application anew, which should make it valid regardless of the hearing examiner’s decision.

KRRC is being asked to provide information in its application that other applicants — namely Poulsbo Sportsman Club — have managed to avoid, Danielson said. The county also is ignoring rights of the club established by its historical uses of the property going back before the county even had a zoning code.

“We strenuously object to trying to use this ordinance to override our grandfathered rights,” Danielson said. “The ordinance is so broad and over-reaching that it effectively does away with all grandfathered rights.”

After the hearing, Marcus Carter, executive officer of the club, said a team of club volunteers is doing everything it can to comply with the county’s requirements, even though the county continues to overstep its authority.

“It looks like we will have four or five appeals, all going at the same time,” he said.

The club would like to obtain the permits required by the county, he said, but county officials are not cooperative. As things stand, it would cost between $158,000 and $400,000 to conduct the studies and engineering work needed to complete the land-use applications — an estimate rejected by county officials.

The club does not have that kind of money, Carter said. If any wetlands biologists, engineers or land-use specialists would like to volunteer to help the club, they would be welcome, he added.

“I guess they (county officials) think we are going to dry up and blow away, but they are sadly mistaken,” Carter said. “Now Judge Roof has attacked the club. Apparently, corruption in Kitsap County goes all the way to the roof.”

Kitsap County officials, and now two superior court judges, contend that Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club has had more than enough time to comply with county requirements. Both lawsuits remain under review by the Washington State Court of Appeals.