FARMINGTON -- The Davis County Commission has admitted it made a mistake; changing gun laws is not within its jurisdiction.
On Tuesday, the commission rolled back a two-week old ban on discharging firearms in an area that included most of the county's mountainside along the Wasatch Front.
"The county did not have the authority to amend the ordinance, as we did," said Gerald Hess, of the Davis County Attorney's Office.
The ordinance change began with complaints from neighbors living near the county's unincorporated areas that stray bullets from illegal gunplay in the woods kept slamming into homesides.
"This is a setback," said an upset Marie Burke, a Bountiful resident whose front window was shattered when her home was hit by two bullets in 2008.
Burke and others were grateful that the commission, working with Bountiful police and the U.S. Forest Service, had taken steps to extend a 1993 ban on discharging firearms in part of the unincorporated area.
The prohibition previously included an area of Davis County west of U.S. 89 and north of State Road 193.
But after calls from gun enthusiasts, county attorneys discovered a 2004 state law had taken away the county's ability to extend the ban.
So the county repealed the additional ban.
"This action in no way diminishes concern for our citizens," said Commissioner Louenda Downs.
Federal authorities were working a parallel plan that would have extended the ban from 5,100 feet to 7,000 feet on U.S. Forest Service land in Davis County.
As a result of the county change, federal authorities did not know yet what would happen to their plan to further limit rogue target practice.
A recent mountain fire in the Centerville area is being blamed on the illegal use of firearms, but local target ranges in the county were excluded from the ban and had the support of Bountiful police.
The continuing expansion of residential housing up the mountainside has pushed the boundary between city life and the available lands for recreational use.
Commissioners said they had not decided on a next step, if any, but Burke said she is may talk with state lawmakers about trying to reinstate the extended ban.
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