Why ranges get shut down.

Police officials are considering design changes to a firing range after a stray bullet struck a home about a mile away.

A resident called Tipton County sheriff deputies the afternoon of July 12, reporting a bullet had just come through the wall of his home. Deputies quickly alerted several members of the Noblesville Police Department, who were conducting firearms training at the range.

"We're still not really sure what happened for the bullet to go that far away," Noblesville Police Chief Richard Russell said Thursday. "It was really puzzling."

Police are speculating a shooter lying in a prone position, aiming upward at a target, must have sent a bullet up and over the mound of tree-covered earth at the back of the range about 30 miles north of Indianapolis, Russell said.

"It must have went off at least at a 45-degree angle to get that far, kind of like an arch," he said.

Law enforcement officials from Noblesville and Tipton are looking at raising the height of the earth berm behind the targets and possibly thickening the berm.

The cost of the improvements has not been determined.

Russell and Tipton County Sheriff Craig Henderson said that until improvements are made on the county-owned property, it is unlikely officers will do any more shooting there.

It is an unfortunate truth that open-air ranges are being encroached upon by residential areas. Whereas before, if a bullet went stray, it would usually land in a wooded area, now it can land in a housing project. Many ranges are being shut down because they are becoming a nuisance to the surrounding residents. The ranges are on the losing side, because not many are willing to fight for their right to exist. Florida has state-run ranges, the closest to me is inside the Osceola National Forest. No encroachment there, at least for now.