New gun range planned near Atlantic Station

• Stoddard's Guns

Plans to open a new shooting range in the Loring Heights neighborhood sometime next year have raised concerns with a few nearby residents.

Stoddard's Range and Guns' co-owner Michael Halbriech says that the facility will be open to the public. It would also cater to Atlanta-based law enforcement officials, many of whom already travel to his original Douglasville location - voted by CL readers last year as the Atlanta's best shooting range.

"We do intend to design our range in such a way to take into account the specific needs of law enforcement," he says. "It will not only cater to the average consumer, but it will allow law enforcement to run their personnel through scenarios required to qualify for law enforcement purposes."

Plans for the approximately 30,000 square-foot site, a former plumbing supply building located along Bishop Street, call for 24 indoor firing lanes that would be sectioned off in a self-contained soundproof part of the building. The building would also include a large retail space as well as several classrooms for weapons training.

Stoddard's new range is already allowed under current zoning codes and adheres to Beltline Overlay standards - meaning that the owners would just need a building permit to move forward with construction. Halbreich says that his company would retrofit the existing structure while adding streetscaping and sidewalks. Although it's early in the planning stages, he hopes that the facility would open "sometime in early 2014."