Vermont Statutes Annotated

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 5227 (2026)

Sport shooting ranges; municipal and State authority

✓ laws through the 2026 session (checked Sept. 2026)

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(Cite as: 10 V.S.A. § 5227)

§ 5227. Sport shooting ranges; municipal and State authority

(a) “Sport shooting range” or “range” means an area designed and operated for the use of archery, rifles, shotguns, pistols, skeet, trap, black powder, or any other similar sport shooting.

(b) The owner or operator of a sport shooting range, and a person lawfully using the range, who is in substantial compliance with any noise use condition of any issued municipal or State land use permit otherwise required by law shall not be subject to any civil liability for damages or any injunctive relief resulting from noise or noise pollution, notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary.

(c) If no municipal or State land use permit is otherwise required by law, then the owner or operator of the range and any person lawfully using the range shall not be subject to any civil liability for damages or any injunctive relief relating to noise or noise pollution.

(d) Nothing in this section shall prohibit or limit the authority of a municipality or the State to enforce any condition of a lawfully issued and otherwise required permit.

(e)(1) In the event that the owner, operator, or user of a range is not afforded the protection set forth in subsection (b) or (c) of this section, this subsection shall apply. A nuisance claim against a range may only be brought by an owner of property abutting the range. The range shall have a rebuttable presumption that the range does not constitute any form of nuisance if the range meets the following conditions:

(A) the range was established prior to the acquisition of the property owned by the person bringing the nuisance claim; and

(B) the frequency of the shooting or other alleged nuisance activity at the range has not significantly increased since acquisition of the property owned by the person bringing the nuisance claim.

(2) The presumption that the range does not constitute a nuisance may be rebutted only by an abutting property owner showing that the activity has a noxious and significant interference with the use and enjoyment of the abutting property.

(f) Prior to use of a sport shooting range after dark for purposes of training conducted by a federal, state, county, or municipal law enforcement agency, the sport shooting range shall notify those homeowners and businesses with property abutting the range that have requested such notice from the range.

(g) If any subsection of this section is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect the other subsections of this section that can be given effect without the invalid subsection, and for this purpose, the subsections of this section are severable. (Added 1991, No. 20; amended 2001, No. 61, § 71, eff. June 16, 2001; 2005, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 22, 2006.)

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases, 2004–2017 · leading case: Wild v. Brooks, 2004 VT 74, 862 A.2d 225.

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Wild v. Brooks, 2004 VT 74, 862 A.2d 225. · cites it 6× “On appeal, Wild claims that (1) recent revisions to the range’s Act 250 permit, which allowed the range to reopen as of this spring, rendered the superior court’s opinion advisory; and (2) the grant of statutory immunity under 10 V.S.A. § 5227, if valid, effects an…”

North Country Sportsman's Club v. Town of Williston, 2017 VT 46, 170 A.3d 639. · cites it 3× “The Legislature has provided that towns, cities, and incorporated villages have the authority to "regulate or prohibit the use or discharge" of firearms as long as any ordinance to that effect does not "prohibit, reduce, or limit discharge at any existing sport shooting range"…”

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 5227(b): 2 cases

Wild v. Brooks, 2004 VT 74, 862 A.2d 225. “On appeal, Wild claims that (1) recent revisions to the range’s Act 250 permit, which allowed the range to reopen as of this spring, rendered the superior court’s opinion advisory; and (2) the grant of statutory immunity under 10 V.S.A. § 5227, if valid, effects an…”

North Country Sportsman's Club v. Town of Williston, 2017 VT 46, 170 A.3d 639. “The Legislature has provided that towns, cities, and incorporated villages have the authority to "regulate or prohibit the use or discharge" of firearms as long as any ordinance to that effect does not "prohibit, reduce, or limit discharge at any existing sport shooting range"…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.

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Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, § 5227 (2026)

Sport shooting ranges; municipal and State authority