Controversy continues over where to relocate a new state police firearms training facility in Connecticut.
State Police and the Department of Administrative Services have set a May 1 deadline to accept correspondence about the gun range from the five towns currently under consideration: Hampton, Voluntown, Sprague, Griswold, and Canterbury.
A group calling itself No Gun Range Hampton has submitted a letter to state officials along with more than 400 signatures opposing the proposed purchase and development of about 460 acres of private property for the facility.
They said they agree on the necessity of proper law enforcement training, but argued that their part of the state will never again be called “The Quiet Corner” with the shots heard for miles from the estimated one million rounds fired each year.
The current training facility in Simsbury is located in the Farmington River flood plain.
After years of wrestling with flooding issues, a decision was made to move. The proposed new facility is expected to be a larger complex, with separate pistol, active shooter, rifle, and shotgun ranges.
The towns of Willington and East Windsor, previously under consideration, have been removed from the list of possible sites.
