Winfield homeowners take firearm dispute with neighbor to Town Council

James Waddell and Paulette Skinner live on either side of a County Line Road property that they say has been the source of what Waddell called “significant safety and quality of life concerns” in remarks to the Winfield Town Council on Tuesday.

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“If they shoot high, it goes right into my place,” Skinner, a former Republican council member, told the body on Tuesday. She said that she had consulted with a realtor who advised her that her neighbors’ activities had negatively impacted the value of her property.

Steven Brozyna, who co-owns the property with his son Jonathan, confirmed that he and his family use an earthen berm on the property as a backstop for target shooting, and said that he has a legal right to do so.

“It’s not like there’s people coming over here shooting every day or paying admission,” he told The Times. “If I can shoot a deer on my property, I should be able to sit there and make sure that my sights on my gun are on so I don’t wound and injure an animal.”

The dispute predates the Brozynas’ ownership of the property, which they purchased in May. Waddell first complained to town officials after the Winfield Police Department used the property for a firearm training exercise in July 2023 with the permission of the land’s then-owner, beginning a lengthy email correspondence that was reviewed by The Times.

Waddell, who said he has been a longtime member of the National Rifle Association, wrote that the incident raised safety concerns due to the area’s proximity to neighboring lots and the noise produced by the high-powered firearms used.

In response, Town Council Vice President Zach Beaver, R-at large, who serves as the council’s public safety liaison, directed the police department not to use the site again.

Waddell asked that the incident be investigated, and argued that the town should tighten local regulations governing the use of firearms.

Winfield’s code of ordinances holds that “it shall be unlawful for any person to shoot, fire, or discharge any firearm within the town limits,” with some exceptions, including for an on-duty law enforcement officer, a licensed gun owner acting in self-defense, a licensed hunter, and “any person discharging a weapon at lawfully operated shooting range, skeet range, or gun club.”

The latter terms go undefined in the town code. In this, Winfield’s written rules differ from those in place in some of Lake County’s other jurisdictions. Neighboring Crown Point, for instance, includes language mandating that gun range operators receive a permit from the city’s chief of police.

In a July 30 email to Beaver, Waddell wrote that he wanted the town to “clearly define ‘lawfully operated’ to mandate compliance with established standards or stricter regulations you deem necessary,” and to “consider a complete ban on firearm discharge within town limits, similar to ordinances in effect across Indiana. 

In August, a year after the training exercise took place, Beaver wrote to Waddell that “we have reviewed the evidence presented to us about this event and have not been able to identify misconduct or violations of department policy.”

He added that the Town Council had “prepared a draft ordinance to amend the current town ordinance” in light of Waddell’s concerns.

That item has yet to be placed on a Town Council agenda, however. Beaver told The Times on Tuesday that he understands public sentiment in Winfield to be against the idea of stricter firearm rules, a factor he has weighed in determining whether to answer Waddell’s call to action.

“We gotta listen to what people want,” he said.

Two Winfield Residents, Corey Liss and Harold Cooper, took to the podium after Waddell and Skinner to voice their opposition to any new firearm rules.

Brozyna, for his part, said that Winfield’s rural environment was a major factor in his decision to move there.

“It’s not like I’m in a neighborhood on a quarter-acre lot. I got seven acres of land here,” he told The Times. “If they don’t like what you do in the country, they can sit there and go back to the city.”

Waddell argued in his Tuesday remarks that existing rules are reason enough for the town to take action against the Brozynas’ target shooting on their land, which is zoned for agricultural use.

“Shooting ranges are not a permitted use in the agriculture areas within Winfield code,” he said. “That’s not a technicality. That’s a fundamental promise to everyone making an investment and moving to Winfield.”

In an email to The Times, Waddell clarified that he is currently “not looking to change any of the existing laws.”

“Granting the Winfield Police Department sole and unfettered discretion to define what constitutes a ‘lawfully operated shooting range’ is legally unsound and contrary to core principles of land-use governance, fairness, due process, and transparency,” he wrote.

Winfield’s zoning ordinance, in fact, does not address gun ranges at all. Beaver referred legal questions about the town code to town attorney David Austgen, who did not respond by press time on Thursday.

Beaver said that Austgen and the town’s code enforcement officer will review the Brozynas’ conduct on their property and that the town will take action if it is appropriate. He stressed, however, that “it’s not the role of government to resolve one or two people’s complaints with each other.”