East Hampton residents go to war over local gun clubs lease renewal

East Hampton, NY, homeowners are fighting to keep a popular local gun club from reopening, years after suing the venue over claims that stray bullets fired by members had struck local homes.It seems some homeowners in East Hampton’s Wainscott community are not happy about having their home on the range—the shooting range, that is.Several residents of the Merchants Path neighborhood launched a lawsuit against the Maidstone Gun Club in 2022 after reporting that stray bullets struck their homes.The gun club, which has been in the area for 42 years, maintains that the bullets did not come from their facility but rather from people shooting illegally in the woods surrounding the property.Nonetheless, that litigious filing led to a court-ordered temporary restraining order in November 2022, forcing the gun club to cease all operations since that time.However, the issue has been thrust back into the forefront of local debate in recent weeks as the Maidstone Gun Club may be poised to finally reopen soon.

The club’s 30-year lease—for which it paid $100/year for the use of 97 acres of parkland near the East Hampton airport—expired over a year and a half ago.Owing to the pending lawsuit and renegotiations, a new lease has yet to be signed.But with hopes of reopening the club—which is deemed as an “everyman’s” shooting range that serves the community as well as local law enforcement—the town of East Hampton and Maidstone’s board are hammering out the details of a new agreement.

However, some homeowners in the area are still up in arms and trying to block the renewal.The question now is can a long-standing gun club and an elite neighborhood learn to coexist in harmony?In an area that today is most often associated with society’s elite, the Maidstone Gun Club has always prided itself on the fact it’s not exclusive or high end.With annual dues running only $150/year, the gun club has roots from the 1930s in Amagansett, NY, incorporated as a nonpro...