WESLEY CHAPEL, N.C. -- Some people are reluctant to let children play outside because of a private firing range behind a neighborhood in Wesley Chapel, N.C.

Carlos Roman described the gunfire, "it's not like pop, pop. It's you know, automatic gunfire.”

Michael Land owns the shooting range on his seven acre property in Wesley Chapel that he has owned since 1991, long before the Stonegate community or Newtown Elementary school were built.

North Carolina law protects Land's firing range under the Sport Shooting Range Protection Act of 1997. It exempts shooting for sport from noise ordinances.

"I want concerned citizens to realize this range is safe. They may hear the gunfire. But it's the safest gunfire they'll ever hear in this country," said Land.

Land said he mostly shoots on the weekends and never during school hours or early in the morning. He also said he spent $15,000 upgrading the range by building a huge burm made of steel and wet sand. It measures about 20 feet tall and 60 feet wide at the base. He shoots directly into the burm to keep rounds from going anywhere else.

He also puts up large tarps to catch any stray rounds and he said it helps block out some noise.

"If a projectile goes off this property and hurts somebody, it's not only a tragedy but I'm going to be liable. I realize that I accept that and I know that. And I know nothing is leaving this range," said Land.

Land said he fires in the opposite directions of the neighborhood and the nearby elementary school. But that is little comfort to Roman and his neighbors.

Roman said, "it's not something that when you come and buy a house in this particular neighborhood that you want to have your kids get accustomed to. You know, hearing gunshots."

A public forum on April 1 will give community a chance to talk about possibly creating a firearm ordinance.