It appears people in the neighborhood don’t regard the semi-automatics as a positive.
I guess the debate here is, can you buy a plot of land and turn it into a landfill that stops 1 inch from the neighbors’ land? I suppose you could, in all legality. But doing so without warning the people around you, or asking their opinion, is still poor form.
Wouldn’t hurt for the university to liase more with the locals, so they know what’s being done and feel that they have a voice. Communication isn’t a panacea for any disagreement, but it can certainly resolve many issues.