CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – A new gun range could be opening in Horry County soon. The Horry County Public Safety Committee unanimously approved a proposal for a gun range near Aynor on Monday.
Steve Slavik, the owner of Echo 6 Weapons, wants to open a facility on a 50-acre site on Page Road, in Galivants Ferry.
“What we want to do is provide law-abiding citizens a place to practice, learn and get the experience,” said Slavik.
However, people who live on Page Road don’t want the facility to come to their neighborhood.
“I don’t like it here because it’s a quiet neighborhood except there’s enough shooting going on here now,” said Ross May, who’s lived there for more than 10 years.
One man who attended the committee meeting expressed his safety concerns with new gun range.
“The guys on the hunting club, we do have kids. We take church groups out there. If you put a shooting range out there, anything can happen. A safety study and a noise analysis needs to be done,” said a lawyer with Bellamy Law Firm representing property owners in the area.
However, Horry County Public Safety Committee members say the gun range would actually promote gun safety. They believe it would go hand-in-hand with an ordinance to prevent reckless shooting, that they also approved on Monday.
“One of the things they’ll be teaching is gun safety. He’s also going to be giving recreational shooters an outlet, a place where they can shoot safely,” said Councilman Johnny Vaught.
Public Safety Committee Chairman Al Allen said, “The excuse is no more that I do not have a safe area to go and shoot.”
Next, the gun range proposal will go before Horry County Council at its meeting on Oct. 2.