Drunken Florida man returns fire at neighbor family doing some backyard target practice

A Florida man too drunk to stand up started shooting at his neighbors as they engaged in some backyard target practice.

The family, including some children who were present, were shooting at a target behind their Fountain home over the weekend when their neighbor returned fire, reported My Panhandle.

The neighbor, Michael Brinegar, was so intoxicated that he was unable to remain standing while speaking with deputies, according to the incident report.

"He slurred his speech, had bloodshot eyes, and fell over in his front yard as deputies attempted to talk with him," Bay County sheriff's deputies said in their report.

Deputies found a loaded 9 mm pistol on a bar stool inside Brinegar's home, near several bottles of liquor, marijuana pipes, loose ammunition and shell casings.

Brinegar was arrested and charged with firing a missile into a dwelling, criminal mischief, use of a firearm under influence of alcohol and possession of drug paraphernalia.

No one was injured by the gunfire.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, closed a loophole in state law last year by restricting backyard shooting ranges.

The new law, which was backed by law enforcement and signed with the blessing of the National Rifle Association, prohibits shooting ranges if the population density is greater than one person per acre.

But that leaves legal shooting ranges at private dwellings in less populated areas.