Ranged attacks versus objects held / carried

[JackTCR]

I attempted to search the archives on the matter and didn't find much, so I present it to you all here.

How does resolving a ranged attack versus a held or carried object work? Two instances came up recently in our weekly game, both dealing with the party Gunslinger. The first time he was making a long shot with his musket against the BBEG while he was running away, attempting to destroy one of the large bronze keys the evil man wore on his belt. The gunslinger wasn't in range to make his touch attack. The rules for damaging objects notes that ranged attacks only deal half damage, but not how the attack is resolved.

The second encounter involved the gunslinger squaring off with a man wearing a tower shield. The man kept aligning the tower shield as per its ability to the edge facing the gunslinger, giving himself total cover. The gunslinger wanted then to attack and destroy the shield, this time firing from within his touch attack range. How is this attack resolved? And would it be resolved any differently if the gunslinger wanted to plain out attack the shield while it was being wielded.

[Mojorat]

Unless you have a class ability saying you can its not possibke to range sunder. The archer fighter archtype can do this.

[BltzKrg242]

There doesn't seem to be a requirement for it to be a Melee attack on a standard CM.

When you attempt to perform a combat maneuver, make an attack roll and add your CMB in place of your normal attack bonus. Add any bonuses you currently have on attack rolls due to spells, feats, and other effects. These bonuses must be applicable to the weapon or attack used to perform the maneuver. The DC of this maneuver is your target's Combat Maneuver Defense. Combat maneuvers are attack rolls, so you must roll for concealment and take any other penalties that would normally apply to an attack roll.

It says attack roll not Melee attack roll.

BUT then you get down to Sunder and you get:

You can attempt to sunder an item held or worn by your opponent as part of an attack action in place of a melee attack. If you do not have the Improved Sunder feat, or a similar ability, attempting to sunder an item provokes an attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.
So yeah.. only melee. Which seems dumb as hell. But I guess they figure missiles would only cause small holes or catch in the item rather than blowing it apart...