SHARE Raluca Buznea shows where she was struck by a stray bullet while dining at the Delafield Brewhaus. The bullet was fired from the nearby Hartland Sportsman's Club's shooting range in May of 2010. Journal Sentinel files

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The sound of gunfire — in the form of sport shooting and practice — could be returning soon to Delafield.

A Waukesha County judge recently ruled that the city's prior actions to shut down the ranges at the Hartland Sportsman's Club are void, and that the club is entitled to return to shooting operations there.

"My client is looking forward to getting the ranges up and running again," said Jeremy Levinson, attorney for the club. "They certainly don't need the city's permission, but want to reach out to them."

Levinson said it was too soon Monday to know just how soon the ranges might reopen.

The gun club, at 730 Maple Ave., voluntarily shut down in 2010, after a .45-caliber bullet from one of its ranges grazed a pregnant woman who was dining outside at the Delafield Brewhaus about a quarter mile away.

Raluca Buznea of Waukesha suffered a scratch and a bruise on her left side, above her hip. She was treated at a hospital and released. The round was matched by the State Crime Laboratory to a handgun that was being fired at the gun club.

In June of that year, the city revoked the club's permit, triggering five years of legal dueling over the club's future. The city later denied the club's 2013 application for a new conditional permit, and the club sued in 2014.

Last week, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Maria Lazar ruled for the club. She found that the city relied on a misreading of the state's Range Protection Act in 2010, and acted arbitrarily in 2013. Therefore, she said, the club's original 1997 conditional use permit is still valid, meaning she did not have to address the club's other claim that the city violated its rights under the Second Amendment.

Lazar did, however, begin her 24-page order with a quote from a pivotal 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision for gun rights: "This may be considered the true palladium of liberty... The right to self-defense is the first law of nature."

Though the club never conceded that its permit was validly revoked in 2010, it worked with the city on changes to its facilities and operations in support of an application for a new permit. But in December 2013, the city rejected the club.

Lazar notes that the council did so without explanation, written findings of fact or legal conclusions, factors she said support the conclusion the council acted arbitrarily.

She said she encourages the club to adopt the extra safety measures it proposed back in 2013.

One reason cited for the 2010 revocation of the existing permit was the city's claim that in amending the Range Protection Act to cover more gun ranges, the Legislature created a 16-day window during which no ranges were protected from local rulings that might squeeze them out of existence in light of surrounding development.

Levinson said that was clearly not the intent and "that kind of tortured, faux legal argument always makes you ask, 'what's really going on here?'"

Neither Delafield's mayor nor its attorney in the case could be reached for comment immediately.