HAMPDEN – The ordinance committee will meet at 7 tonight at the municipal building to discuss expanding the no-firearms zone as proposed by Councilor Don Muth.

A representative from the state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department will be on hand to answer questions.

As the town’s business and residential development grows, so does the risk of a hunting accident, according to Muth.

The councilor would like to broaden the no-firearms area to include land from Route 202 all the way up to Interstate 95 and from the railroad tracks up to Coldbrook Road.

He also would like to have the remainder of the town studied to see if further expansion of the no-firearms zone is necessary.

“If I feel that people are going to be put in harm’s way, I’m going to do what I can to prevent an accident,” Muth said last week.

The area with which he is concerned is commonly used for hunting as well as for practice shooting, according to Muth.

“If you’re going to take and sanction sprawl, then you’ve got to cut back on areas exposed to hunting and firearms – you’ve got to use a little common sense,” he said.

Muth, who was instrumental in getting the town to approve a no-firearms zone back in 1989, said he isn’t against the use of guns.

“I’ve got a gun in the house and I’ve belonged to the NRA [National Rifle Association],” he said. “It’s just a genuine concern for the civilian population.”

But Councilor Bill Gamble said Muth is putting the cart before the horse.

“He wants to close an area where there hasn’t been a problem,” said Gamble, pointing out that two-thirds of the area that Muth wants to close to hunting has no residences.

The town also hasn’t received any reports of hunting accidents or of people hunting behind houses, he said.

“People are patrolling themselves – hunter safety courses have helped a lot,” Gamble said.

Moreover, reports of deer-automobile accidents and deer damage to shrubs and gardens have increased, according to Gamble.

“Lyme disease is more of a risk than hunting,” he said, referring to the potentially life-threatening sickness that can be transmitted by deer ticks.