Bowdoc, you lost me. What does paying a federal tax have to do with the right to shoot in your yard? Not saying your wrong, just don't get it.
Here in Kansas City, as far as I've been able to find out, the city ordinance allows shooting a bow and arrows with field or target points provided you have a suitable backstop. Mine is just the grass coverd dirt bank along the edge of the driveway near the house. Cann't shoot through a pile of dirt!
The catch in many towns it the city ordinances can write their own definition of a "firearm". In many cities, it is anything that propels a projectile. "Fire" has nothing to do with it. If the city defines a bow as a firearm, then likely they also have an ordinance banning the use of firearms in the city limits and you are S.O.L.
If any of you guys know someone that works in a factory (preferably a mechanic) ask him if he can get you some used conveyor material. Conveyors come in widths from well under a foot to several feet wide depending on the aplication. Where I work, most of ours are about 18 or 20 inches wide but its sort of a ruberized canvas or fiber reinforced rubber whichever way you want to look at it. Usually about 1/4 inch thick and VERY tough. Build a wooden frame to the size you want then nail vertical sections to the top so they hang down and overlap slightly like you see over the doors to a butchers walk in cooler sometimes. They'll stop ANY field tipped arrow.
If you are in mining country, I've heard the conveyor material they use to move rock and coal is darned near bullet proof.