To the Editor,

"Firing Back," a study completed by Brown University's School of Public Health (https://bit.ly/Brown-SPH-Cranston-Gunfire-Study), confirmed what residents, students, and teachers experience: exceedingly high noise levels. But the noise isn't from irritating leaf blowers; this noise is the stressful explosions from rapid-firing automatic weapons from the Cranston Gun Range. The results, in many ways, were not surprising; if you've ever watched a violent movie with scenes of bad guys firing automatic weapons or recent news clips of gunfire taking place in Gaza and Ukraine, it's an assault not only on your ears but also on one's emotional and psychological well-being.

 When the shooting range is active, the noise level is 1,000 times louder, as permitted by the City's noise ordinance for residential neighborhoods. Not 10 or 100, but 1,000 times louder! If you search the internet, you can find sound clips of automatic weapons being fired. Now take that clip, turn up the volume, and play it over and over in your home for 6 hours straight. No way would you do that, but this area's residents, teachers, and students must tolerate this because they don't have a choice. They are subjected to the stress-inducing brutal noise of weapons of war while trying to learn, socialize, study, work, relax, and have a morning cup of coffee.

 Why should a parent caring for their young children at home be subjected to this noise assault? How can teachers and students give their full attention to learning with the sound of gunshots bouncing off their classroom walls? The City's leaders have demonstrated a lack of understanding and caring for the safety and quality of their lives and are negligent in their responsibilities to enforce City ordinances.

This negligence and abusive situation is not legal or morally right; it's harmful to one's physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It's well past the time for the City of Cranston to solve this travesty and protect its residents, especially young children, and students from the stressful and harmful effects of being subjected to barrages of rapid gunfire noise. The City's leaders must also consider the risks this environment creates. One day, the noise may not be from the shooting range but from someone using the noise as a cover to inflict harm.

Tom Wojick

Cranston