Lina Lua said she removes her three children from their Punaluu home every time her neighbor invites friends over to spend Sunday afternoons firing handguns, rifles, shotguns and military-style weapons on his large property, prompting repeated visits from Honolulu police and state enforcement agents.

But no one has been arrested or cited over the 10 years that David Thielen has welcomed everyone from what he says are off-duty police officers and active-duty military members to even a Boy Scout troop to his picturesque and otherwise quiet corner of Oahu where Thielen built what he calls a "private, family, outdoor shooting range."

Friends and acquaintances come to Thielen’s property off Puhuli Street to shoot twice a month — "at the most," Thielen said. But the rate has dropped to "once a month lately," he said.

The presence of gunfire on Thielen’s property, while apparently legal, raises questions about his neighbors’ right to peace and serenity versus Thielen’s right to shoot legally registered firearms on his own property.

Thielen — who said he is not related to the Windward Oahu political family of the same name — is a 51-year-old married father of four, a contractor/developer and self-described "survivalist" who is proud to slaughter his own cows, grow his own produce and drink water from the well that he dug himself on 30 acres of agriculturally zoned land.

"We just wish America is the way it used to be," he said.

"Do I think the world’s going to end?" Thielen said in response to a question about his firearms philosophy. "Put it this way: If anyone is not wise enough to be prepared at any level, it’s their own fault. If everyone else lived more like we do, we’d have a better planet. We believe in taking care of our own. What’s wrong with that?"

Apparently nothing, under the letter of the law.

The law does say it is "reckless endangerment" to point a gun at someone.

And it’s a crime of second-degree reckless endangerment to fire a weapon "in a populated area, (or) in a residential area," according to city ordinances.

But what about organizing a noncommercial shooting range on private land zoned for agriculture?

"In general, on agricultural land, there are a lot of uses that are either tolerated, implied, permitted or just not prohibited," said Denise Antolini, a professor who specializes in environmental law at the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law.

Antolini said she had not heard of any other instance of a private landowner organizing an outdoor shooting range on agriculturally zoned land on Oahu.

While state and city laws could be mute on the issue, Antolini said neighbors could file lawsuits for having their "use and enjoyment of their property" interfered with.

Three other neighbors who live near Thielen said they, too, worry about gunfire in their bucolic, rural community. But they say they’re afraid to push the issue and spoke to the Star-Advertiser on condition of anonymity, saying they feared possible retaliation.

Inside the custom, two-story home that he built against the Koolau Range with a gorgeous ocean view, Thielen said he has received complaints from the Greater Mount Zion Holiness Church on nearby Kamehameha Highway. Church officials could not be reached for comment.

But Thielen insisted that no neighbor has ever complained to him about his shooting activity, which he acknowledged can sometimes last for hours.

"No neighbor has ever come to me, that’s the truth," he said.

Lua, 36, said she worked on Thielen’s property helping to build foundations for his buildings and has spoken to Thielen several times regarding her concerns about the gunfire — and the safety of her children.

"He just looks at me and says nothing," Lua said.

Neither City Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who represents the area, nor members of the Koolauloa Neighborhood Board said they have received complaints about Thielen’s shooting range.

Thielen said he is a "distinguished graduate" of the National Rifle Association’s handgun, rifle and shotgun curriculum.

"I want to educate people," Thielen said. "The last thing you want to face is picking up a gun and not knowing how to use it."

He insisted that all shots fired at his range end up going safely toward the uninhabited Koolau mountain range that runs behind his property and that he uses a backhoe and sifter to pick up every piece of brass and lead left behind.

The range is surrounded by earthen berms that Thielen formed with a bulldozer for additional safety.

"We have received complaints and checked it out," HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "It appears to be a private shooting range that’s used by family and friends."

Yu referred further inquiries to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which also has sent enforcement agents to investigate.

DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said in a statement, "Thus far our findings indicate the land in question is privately owned, and zoned agriculture and not under DLNR jurisdiction.

"However, an investigation will be conducted by DLNR enforcement to document on-site findings, with a referral to appropriate agencies for additional follow-up and recommendations."

Don Persons, principal broker for Gold Coast Real Estate, is advertising 25 acres of agriculturally zoned land for sale for $3 million near Thielen’s property and worries that Thielen’s shooting range could make a potential buyer think twice.

Persons had not heard about the shooting range until contacted by the Star-Advertiser, but he said he would have to disclose its existence to prospective buyers.

"It would be the first thing I’d say: ‘There’s a shooting range here,’" Persons said. "Would I like to live next to a shooting range? I wouldn’t like the noise and I would be afraid of a stray bullet."

When bullets aren’t being fired, the only sounds are birds and the rustling of leaves.

But when gunfire breaks out, Lua said, "It’s scary. When the shooting is going on, I leave. I’m scared for my family."