James Gates, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, always dreamed of expanding his small gun store business, but some local residents have made it a nightmare.
According to The Daily Caller, Gates secured a five-year lease at a former Curves gym in Arlington, Virginia to create a second location for his budding gun store. But community activists have threatened that location because of its proximity to a school, even though there is no legal basis for them to do so.
A group of community activists led by Susan Newton, a resident of the Cherrydale neighborhood of Arlington, organized a petition and received more than 2,300 signatures to stop Gates. The petition calls the veteran’s shop “unconscionable.”
“Most of the concerns from the petitions I have read, is that they are worried about the kids seeing guns on the walls as they walk by our shop to the local 7-Eleven. If that’s the only concern, I can assure everybody that won’t be an issue,” Gates told a D.C.-based radio show last week.
Gates announced on the show that he would be willing to tint the store windows so children couldn’t see inside his store.
But he said that while he was willing to compromise with them to make everyone happy, he had a legal right to open a business in that location. Gates also said many of the residents fears about children entering the store are much ado about nothing.
“We do have some customers who come in with their young children. We supplied some rifles to the local Boy Scouts troops so they can learn how to shoot safely. They can’t handle anything. If they are not with a parent or guardian, they are not allowed in the store,” he told the radio host. “They certainly are not allowed to handle firearms even if they are with their guardian.”
