Another flashpoint these days in the tinderbox of our Letters to the Editor is the Maidstone Gun Club. Leases, legal briefs, and lead bullets are involved, but at its essence, the question boils down to this: Should a gun club be allowed to exist in East Hampton in 2024?
Like Proposition 1, this tussle on its surface seems to be about one thing (in this case, public safety) but carries within it the heavy weight of the great American cultural divide.
The question now is whether East Hampton Town will renew the gun club's lease. The Coalition to Transform East Hampton Airport — a group of residents whose main stated purpose is to shut down the adjoining airport, because it is a noisy nuisance — has thrown itself into the wrestling match, offering to lease the property instead and turn its use over to public trails and nature pursuits.
The gun club began in Amagansett in the late 1930s, incorporated in the 1950s, and has formally occupied 97 acres in the oak woods of Wainscott since 1983, leasing the property from the town for a pittance. The rifle range there has been shuttered since a house on Merchants Path was struck by a bullet in August 2022 — not for the first time, quite reasonably alarmed neighbors said. Soon, a group began calling for the club to be shut down permanently.
Not only was the gun club dangerous, some said, but all those bullets could cause lead contamination to the aquifer, and shooting is noisy. Also, they said, the sweetheart lease was an inappropriate "gift of public land to individual citizens."
Members of the club responded by insisting that, first, errant bullets were more likely coming not from the rifle range but from public land between residences and the club that is sometimes used by ne'er-do-wells for unregulated can-shooting. Last year, the club outlined a plan for improved safety and oversight: A qualified supervisor would be on duty when the rifle range was in use, gates and additional cameras installed, and the town granted access for inspections.
The Coalition to Transform East Hampton Airport now suggests itself as a better steward for the 97 acres, painting a picture of hiking and biking trails.
We would ask, what is the coalition's own track record in land stewardship? And, furthermore, we see the culture wars at work here. Opposition to the gun club isn't really about lead pollution, the aquifer, or a need for more mountain biking trails. Lots of people simply don't like guns. Or hunting culture.
The Maidstone Gun Club is the only institution of its kind on the South Fork. Gunning is deeply rooted in Bonac, and while it may not be your cup of tea, it's as valid a use of the public land as any other recreational pursuit. The gun club has a right to exist and its lease should be renewed.