Gun Club Pursuing Lease Renewal in East Hampton

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When bullets went whizzing by construction workers on Merchants Path in August 2022, the Maidstone Gun Club voluntarily shut down its range. Three years later, the club is seeking to renew its lease and reopen, to the dismay of locals.

The gun club exercised its right to renew its lease and has its sights set on becoming operational again, Realtor.com reported. Homeowners nearby don’t want to see the gun club return, however, wary of its proximity to homes, businesses and a preschool.

The 30-year lease for 97 acres of parkland near the East Hampton airport expired in 2023. The club hasn’t been able to sign a new lease because of litigation, though it has been negotiating with the town.

Ryan Horn, director of the club, told the outlet it has a right to stay where it’s been for generations.

“Not only is a recreational, conservation, and public safety organization such as ours the highest and best use of the property, we have also exercised an exclusive right to renew our 30-year lease,” Horn said. He added that the deal would include a big rent increase from before, a potential boon for the town; in the past, the police have also been able to use the range for free.

The lease may exclude outdoor rifle shooting on the parkland if the gun club reopens, except for skeet and trap practice.

The gun club, in place for more than four decades, maintains the bullets from the 2022 incident didn’t come from its facility.

A temporary restraining order was put in place in November 2022, forcing operations to shut down. A police report disclosed by Air Mail in 2023 concluded there was a “great probability” the bullets came from the outdoor rifle range and bypassed safety barricades.

The gun club’s location seemed ideal at the start — near an airport and industrial park, where it would go unnoticed and unheard — but luxury single-family homes crept closer in the intervening years.

There was a proposal to turn the club into affordable housing after its shutdown, but that didn’t go anywhere, leading to the impasse without a clear resolution timeline.

— Holden Walter-Warner