Led by Nick Uchyn, who bought his Carmel Canyon home in 2006, the homeowners have been busy handing out fliers near the high school. The fliers imply the shooting range will be the spawning ground for drive-by shootings, stray bullets flying into school grounds and lead dust billowing into the sky.

Said Turner, who previously managed the Ben Avery Shooting Range in Phoenix: "The people who take the time to go to a formal shooting park are not the same people who are involved in drive-by shootings. These are people who are trying to be safe and take the time to travel to a controlled, safe environment."

Formal shooting ranges are designed specifically with bullet containment in mind, and trained range safety officers supervise them. Most, if not all, outdoor ranges are lined with tall berms of dirt to catch bullets as they travel down range.

In the mid-1990s, I toured several ranges located along Utah's populous Wasatch Front. All are well used and their safety records impeccable. At the Clark County Shooting Park, the individual shooting ranges will be oriented to the north so shooters will be firing in the opposite direction from any development. Recreational shooters already are shooting in the desert near Carmel Canyon. Would it make more sense to have them shooting in an uncontrolled environment or in one specifically designed with firearms safety in mind?

As for the lead issue, and contrary to what Uchyn and company would have you believe, lead shotgun pellets do not turn to dust when hitting a clay bird. They will not drift like a dark cloud of pestilence. Rather, they will fall to the ground where they periodically can be removed through federally approved lead mining practices. Case studies indicate that in arid areas with high alkaline soils like those found here, lead bullets or shot do not dissolve but will remain in their original form.

I wonder if the Carmel Canyon folks realize thousands of school-age kids across the United States safely participate in organized shooting programs each year. The Scholastic Clay Target Program is one, the 4-H Shooting Program is another. And would you believe that somewhere in my collection of hats is one promoting Nebraska's high school trap shooting championship?

The world must be coming to an end.

Doug Nielsen is an award-winning freelance writer and a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His column is published Thursday. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.