I've been hard put to come up with the most appropriate English expression for a particular Russian one.
In Russian, an expression that roughly translates as "To not let someone come near X within a firing distance" is fairly common. I believe it's self-explanatory, so I won't going into much detail here. But here's an example of it in use:
This guy shouldn't be allowed within a firing distance near children.
What would be the best "native" English expression to convey the same idea?
Best Answer
We have the saying "within spitting distance".
. This guy shouldn't be allowed within spitting distance of X.
I'm not sure it's the best option for your specific example.
Another possibility is "within a mile of".
. This guy shouldn't be allowed within a mile of children.
This doesn't literally mean a mile, just a long distance.