Pretentiously stupid lefties can't see the security benefits

Southampton residents furious over a police firing range across the street from kids’ school

The Sandy Hook school-shooting kickback has hit the Hamptons.

Angry parents at an East End school, with students from kindergarten through eighth grade, have demanded that local cops stop firing their guns at a target range across the street from their frightened kids.

Youngsters at the Tuckahoe School in Southampton regularly hear gunfire from a Southampton Village police gun range directly across the street — and critics want the crackling volleys to cease.

While the range and school have co-existed for decades, the sound of bullets flying the week after the Sandy Hook massacre sent some residents over the edge.

School-board member Harald Steudte demanded cops stop shooting during school hours — after officers practiced even as kids sat in classrooms just days after the Connecticut bloodshed.

“It was unbelievable to me that they would choose that [week] to shoot there,” said Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley. “I immediately gave an executive order to the Police Department to not shoot during school hours or activities. If they do, heads are going to roll.”

“It’s really disconcerting,” said PTA co-Vice President Kathy Grigo.

“It’s surprising to me that there could be a gun range so close to the school in the first place.”

Southampton village police use the wooded area to practice for their certification tests and to sharpen marksman skills. The firearms used, according to a law enforcement source, range from machine guns to flash grenades.

Someone even spray painted a large plywood sign at the site this week reading “Does a gun range belong here?”

Superintendent Chris Dyer confirmed that students often hear the shots in class and said that he has had complaints from parents over the years.

But Steudte said the Connecticut shooting should prompt the cops to move their operation elsewhere completely. “I’m happy that the mayor had them stop shooting during school hours,” he said. “But at this point I think it should not be there at all.”

Nearby residents in the heavily populated area said that they’ve grown accustomed to hearing gunfire.

“My little girl asks me what that sound is,” said a woman who lives across the street from the school. “It’s hard to explain.”

I bet if you asked these people to pony up for a proper indoor range they would howl in protest. South Hampton is a rich tony area with enough money to build an indoor range if the sound bothers them. But, of course righteous indignation is so much more fun.