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Gun store owner, neighbors may meet over Arlington dispute | Gun store owner, neighbors may meet over Arlington dispute |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Residents of Arlington County’s Lyon Park neighborhood will meet with the County Board Sunday and were working to set up a meeting with representatives of a gun store that plans to open in the neighborhood next month, even as an online petition opposed to the store passed 2,000 signatures. | |
John Goldener, president of the Lyon Park Citizens Association, said the group is trying to schedule a meeting with the business owners. The meeting, he said, will be limited to people who live in the neighborhood. | |
But the County Board announced late Friday that it will meet with neighborhood residents Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Lyon Park Community Center, 414 North Fillmore St. That meeting is open to the public. | |
Some residents became upset this week after learning that Nova Armory plans to open a “high-end” skeet, trap and hunting arms shop that it describes as a “safe, family-friendly sporting arms business.” A message sent via email that appears to be from the Armory, however, said it has “received an outpouring of support from Arlington residents and looks forward to our opening in a couple weeks.” | |
[Gun store faces opposition in Arlington] | [Gun store faces opposition in Arlington] |
“We plan to have an open house to allow people to see exactly what we offer — and more importantly, what we do not offer,” said the email from the business, which came in reply to an inquiry sent to Dennis Pratte, who sought the store’s occupancy permit. “At that time, people will understand that NOVA Armory is not the typical gun shop and they will understand that our company is an asset to the community, and not something to be feared.” | |
The email said that neither Nova Armory nor Pratte have no association with the gun store that tried and failed to open last spring in the Cherrydale neighborhood. Residents there persuaded the landlord to withdraw the lease before the store opened. | |
Arlington County posted a notice on its web site Friday afternoon explaining that the sale of firearms is regulated by the state of Virginia and the county has little power to ban or restrict businesses that sell guns. The County Board sent a notice Thursday to residents who had contacted it saying essentially the same; that notice is now online also. | |
That hasn’t altered the opinions of those who signed the Change.org petition, who emphasize that the store is across N. Pershing Drive from a private preschool and day-care center. | That hasn’t altered the opinions of those who signed the Change.org petition, who emphasize that the store is across N. Pershing Drive from a private preschool and day-care center. |
The county says that the federal Gun Free School Zone Act that restricts possession of a firearm within a “school zone” does not apply because the day-care facility does not qualify as a school zone. | The county says that the federal Gun Free School Zone Act that restricts possession of a firearm within a “school zone” does not apply because the day-care facility does not qualify as a school zone. |