RAMSEY -- A controversial proposal to bring a 60,000 square foot indoor shooting range to the borough turned into a battle over Second Amendment rights this week. 

Alexander Roubian, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, speaks at the Wednesday, Feb. 22 Ramsey council meeting about a lawsuit potentially facing the borough over a change to an ordinance. Fausto Giovanny Pinto 

Residents packed borough hall Wednesday as the council was expected to vote on an ordinance to include indoor and outdoor firing ranges in a borough-wide shooting ban adopted in 1961, a move intended to stop a proposed gun range.

A Pennsylvania gun range safety officer proposed bringing the Screaming Eagle Club to a Spring Street building that previously housed Liberty Travel. The proposal called for a 60,620 square foot indoor shooting range with 67 firing stalls, a restaurant and store.

Over 1,000 residents have signed an online petition against the range.

But at the start of the meeting, Mayor Deirdre Dillon said the borough had received a letter on Feb. 1 from Alexander Roubian, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, threatening legal action if the council approved the ordinance change.

"We prefer not to put the financial burden on the taxpayers of Ramsey through costly litigation which could potentially be drawn out for years," the letter reads.

Roubian, who showed up at the meeting, cited a recent case out of Chicago in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided for gun owners in protecting their right to be proficient by practicing at ranges.

"Chicago, not once but twice lost in the same exact scenario...not some small town in Alabama, we are talking about the city of Chicago," said Roubian to the council. "Their circuit courts have actually said it is illegal, practically verbatim, the exact wording this ordinance has."

"It is a chance we are willing to take," Dillon told Roubian about paying legal fees in a lost case.

Dillon said the borough was working to retain a national law firm that would provide pro-bono service for a potential lawsuit by the group. The council tabled the vote until the Feb. 22 council meeting when a contract with the firm is expected to be finalized.

A copy of the letter sent to the council.Fausto Giovanny Pinto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com 

Complicating matters, residents speaking at the meeting were banned from speaking about the range itself, because the proposal is still before the planning board.  

Residents not only from Ramsey but nearby municipalities like Mahwah and Wyckoff showed up at the meeting for the ordinance. They cited public safety concerns and a loss in property values as a reason to stop the range.

"Maybe it is a Second Amendment issue but as a mother of a five and six-year-old that's not something I want in my town," said resident Liz Benfanti.

James Jaworski, a lawyer for the Screaming Eagle Club LLC, said a lawsuit is imminent if and when the ordinance is passed.

"We can wish it away all we want, we can articulate all we want that it is a Ramsey problem and not a Second Amendment problem," said Jaworski. "But I'm here to tell you folks, it's a second amendment problem and its coming."

In Passaic County, a shooting range is expected to quadruple in size once $12 million in renovations and 55,000 square feet are added to a Woodland Park facility. 

Fausto Giovanny Pinto may be reached at fpinto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @FGPreporting. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.