Kelly Watson, a Meadowlark property owner, told the Hutchinson County Commissioners Court he is building a private indoor firing range inside a 40-foot export container and has installed multiple safety measures, ventilation and noise mitigation.

"You can't build something and make it safe later on. You gotta start out," Watson said while showing photos and describing concrete-reinforced walls, a locked gun safe, crushed-rubber backstop and a ventilation and filtration system.

Watson told the court he narrowed the shooting window, added multiple steel and concrete barriers, installed a gun safe and will follow manufacturer and NRA recommendations for backstops and air filtration. He said ad-hoc noise testing using a consumer decibel app and firecrackers measured about 100 dB inside an empty container, roughly 95 dB outside the shop and about 85 dB at the street.

County Attorney Craig (first name not stated) told the court the county has limited authority to regulate private activity on private property and that any formal county sound or hours policy would need to be placed on a future agenda for public deliberation. "Craig sent that email, and I think y'all got that on kind of what we really we really don't have a lot of say on any of this since it is private," he said.

Sheriff Jay Dale Butler said deputies would still respond to reports of gunfire. "In all honesty, though, if a neighbor reports a gunshot sound, I want them to respond. I don't care what agreement we have," he said, explaining the safety imperative for law enforcement to check calls involving gunfire.

Commissioners discussed setting hours and a decibel standard as nonbinding guidelines and noted practical enforcement limits: few residents or deputies carry calibrated sound meters and the county attorney emphasized that existing builds would likely be grandfathered to state-level standards if a county policy were established. One commissioner noted that any local rule would require a formal agenda item and deliberation before adoption.

Watson said the range is private and will not be open to the public, that construction was still underway and that he welcomed inspections and communication with neighbors and law enforcement to avoid misunderstandings.

No formal action was taken; the court directed that the topic be returned to the agenda as a formal agenda item if the commissioners wish to develop a local policy on hours or noise limits.