Lonaconing Trap Club, Inc. v. Maryland Department of the Environment

*330HARRELL, J.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? 1 An existentialist likely would decline to confront the riddle because human impact expressly is excluded by the query.2 No philosophers they, the Maryland Department of the Environment, however, apparently would entertain something approaching the obverse of the question: If firearms are fired in a rural area of Allegany County before 1 January 2005, some neighbors complain, and the noise exceeds the relevant prevailing ambient noise standards, why can’t we regulate the loudness of the sound?…