DUNCANSVILLE — The Blair Township board of supervisors decided Tuesday not to take action with a previously proposed gun ordinance.

Blair Township Chairman Paul Amigh II said that by not taking action with the ordinance, the board will be able to revisit it at a later time with a local gun safety committee to rework the act.

In an effort to regulate firearm discharges in Blair Township, supervisors were considering prohibiting the improper discharging of firearms within or through a safety zone.

During last month’s meeting, Amigh said the ordinance was crafted as a solution to stop a Brooks Mills resident who had been repeatedly and recklessly shooting into private land and property.

In June, the proposal was met with disapproval from community members, thus resulting in the board deciding to table their decision on the matter.

Tuesday’s meeting gave community members another chance to voice their opinions on the proposal.

Bonita Shreve, president of the Blair County Second Amendment Coalition, said the Pennsylvania Constitution limits the township from passing its own local gun restrictions.

“It’s unconstitutional and illegal,” Shreve said while asking the board to strike down the ordinance.

Solicitor Patrick Fanelli responded that he believed the act was constitutional because of previous local ordinances passed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but the regulation was in the board’s hands as to whether they would adopt it or not.

Jacob Wible was concerned about the defined boundaries of a safety zone in the ordinance, especially not being able to shoot within 200 yards of a property boundary.

“It very well could affect the way, how and where people hunt around Blair Township as they’ve been doing for 200 years here,” Wible said.

Although Amigh said that the Gaming Commission is the only group that can enforce the boundary lines, the board agreed the law needed to be reworded to best address the situation.

“Due to the sheer volume of concerns people had, the wording could be better,” Amigh said. “We don’t want to tramp on anyone’s Second Amendment rights.”

The board plans on creating a gun safety committee open to community members that will help them recreate a better gun ordinance for the township in the future.

Amigh said he is open to hearing from “some neighbors out there who have some better ideas or better wording that we could use.”

“There’s got to be a better way that we can work this, and a better way to protect other residents of the township,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414