HB 0149 2004
1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to sport shooting and training range
3	liability protection; creating s. 790.333, F.S.; providing
4	legislative findings and intent; providing definitions;
5	specifying absence of liability for certain persons or
6	entities from certain claims, fines, penalties, remedies,
7	and damages relating to projectiles at sport shooting and
8	training ranges; providing a limitation; requiring
9	withdrawal of certain claims from courts or administrative
10	agencies after a certain date; requiring recovery of
11	certain fees and costs; specifying certain actions as
12	frivolous; requiring a court to award treble damages in
13	certain actions under certain circumstances; requiring
14	recovery of certain fees, costs, and expenses; providing
15	criminal penalties; specifying preemption by the
16	Legislature; providing construction and severability;
17	providing an effective date.
18
19	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
20
21	Section 1. Section 790.333, Florida Statutes, is created
22	to read:
23	790.333 Sport shooting and training range protection;
24	liability; claims, expenses, and fees; penalties; preemption;
25	construction and severability.--
26	(1) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.--
27	(a) The Legislature finds that more than 400 sport
28	shooting and training ranges exist on public and private lands
29	throughout this state, many of which are owned and operated by
30	state, county, and municipal governments.
31	(b) These sport shooting and training ranges are widely
32	used and enjoyed by the citizens of this state and are a
33	necessary component of the guarantees of the Second Amendment to
34	the United States Constitution and of the Florida Constitution.
35	(c) Many of these ranges are used by state and local law
36	enforcement agencies for training, practice, and regular
37	mandatory qualification by law enforcement officers; by Florida
38	Wildlife Commission Hunter Safety Instructors who teach adults
39	and youngsters the safe use and handling of firearms in
40	preparation for obtaining hunting licenses; by school boards,
41	colleges, and universities for reserve officer training corps
42	training and activities; by school shooting teams; by Olympic
43	competitors; and by certified instructors who teach the safe use
44	and handling of firearms in preparation for applying for
45	licenses to carry concealed firearms for lawful self-protection.
46	(d) The public policy of this state encourages the safe
47	handling and operation of firearms and mandates appropriate
48	training in the safe use and handling of firearms for persons
49	licensed to carry concealed firearms and for persons licensed to
50	hunt in this state. Sport shooting and training ranges
51	throughout this state provide the location at which this
52	important public purpose is served and at which the firearms
53	training mandates are fulfilled.
54	(e) Projectiles are integral to sport shooting and
55	training range activity and to the ownership and use of
56	firearms.
57	(f) Over years of operation, projectiles have accumulated
58	in the environment at many ranges and there is no indisputable
59	or incontrovertible evidence that projectile accumulation at
60	sport shooting and training ranges poses a threat to the
61	environment or to human health.
62	(g) Litigation initiated by certain state agencies,
63	including the Department of Environmental Protection and the
64	Southwest Florida Water Management District, against sport
65	shooting and training range owners and operators seeks to enjoin
66	such owners and operators to discontinue the use of certain
67	projectiles and to investigate and remove accumulated
68	projectiles under the theory that these projectiles were
69	deposited without authorization under prevailing state
70	environmental laws. The cost of defending these actions is
71	prohibitive and threatens to destroy the sport shooting and
72	training range industry.
73	(h) The elimination of sport shooting and training ranges
74	would unnecessarily impair the ability of citizens of this state
75	to exercise and practice their constitutional guarantees under
76	the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and under
77	the constitution of this state.
78	(2) LEGISLATIVE INTENT.--The Legislature intends to
79	protect and immunize sport shooting and training range owners,
80	operators, users, employees, agents, contractors, customers,
81	lenders, and insurers from liability as described in this act
82	and to prohibit actions by the state, special purpose districts,
83	or political subdivisions which threaten to destroy or bankrupt
84	sport shooting and training ranges.
85	(3) DEFINITIONS.--As used in this act:
86	(a) "Owner" means any person who owns or has owned a sport
87	shooting or training range or any interest therein.
88	(b) "Operator" means any person who operates or has
89	operated a sport shooting or training range.
90	(c) “Projectile" means any object expelled, propelled,
91	discharged, shot, or otherwise released from a firearm, BB gun,
92	airgun, or similar device, including, but not limited to,
93	gunpowder, ammunition, lead, shot, skeet, and trap targets and
94	associated chemicals, derivatives, and constituents thereof.
95	(d) “Environment" means the air, water, surface water,
96	sediment, soil, groundwater, and other natural and manmade
97	resources of this state.
98	(e) "User" means any person, partner, joint venture,
99	business, or social entity or corporation, or any group of such
100	persons or entities, organized or united for a business, sport,
101	or social purpose.
102	(f) “Sport shooting and training range" or "range" means
103	any area that has been designed or operated for the use of
104	firearms, rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap,
105	black powder, BB guns, airguns, or similar devices or for any
106	other type of sport or training shooting.
107	(4) SPORT SHOOTING AND TRAINING RANGE LIABILITY
108	PROTECTION.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any
109	private owner, operator, employee, agent, contractor, customer,
110	lender, insurer, or user of any sport shooting or training range
111	located in this state shall have no liability to this state or
112	any agency of the state, special purpose district, or political
113	subdivision of this state, or to any other person or entity, for
114	any claim associated with the use, release, placement,
115	deposition, or accumulation of any projectile in the
116	environment, including, but not limited to, claims for
117	injunctive relief, fines, penalties, or administrative remedies;
118	property damages of any kind, including, but not limited to,
119	diminished value of real property or improvements, lost or
120	delayed rent, sale, or use of real property or improvements, or
121	stigma to real property or improvements; natural resources
122	damage; or the investigation or remediation of pollution or
123	contamination until, if at all, such time as the Legislature
124	convenes fact-finding tribunals and concludes that such remedies
125	are supported by competent scientific evidence and are
126	necessary.
127	(5) REQUIRED WITHDRAWAL OF CLAIMS AND RECOVERY OF EXPENSES
128	AND ATTORNEY'S FEES.--
129	(a) All claims that are pending in any court of this state
130	or before any administrative agency on the effective date of
131	this act shall be withdrawn within 30 days after the effective
132	date of this act. In all such cases, the defendant shall recover
133	its reasonable attorney's fees, paralegal fees, and costs of
134	defending the claim from the plaintiff.
135	(b) Any action filed in violation of this act shall be
136	deemed frivolous per se, and the court shall award treble
137	damages to the defendant, including all of the defendant’s
138	attorney's fees, costs, and expenses, compensation for loss of
139	income, and expenses incurred as a result of such action. The
140	defendant shall recover all expenses resulting from such action
141	from the governmental body, person, or entity bringing such
142	action.
143	(6) PENALTIES.--Any official, employee, or other agent of
144	a county, municipality, town, special purpose district, or other
145	political subdivision of this state who, while acting in his or
146	her official capacity and within the scope of his or her
147	employment or office, willfully and knowingly brings or is party
148	to bringing an action in violation of this section commits a
149	felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082
150	or s. 775.083.
151	(7) PREEMPTION.--Except as expressly provided by general
152	law, the Legislature preempts the entire field of regulating
153	firearms and ammunition use at sport shooting and training
154	ranges, including the environmental effects of projectile
155	deposition at sport shooting and training ranges.
156	(8) CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY.--
157	(a) This act shall be liberally construed to effectuate
158	its remedial and deterrent purposes.
159	(b) If any provision of this act or its application is
160	held invalid, that provision or its application is severable and
161	does not affect the validity of other provisions or applications
162	of this act.
163	Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.