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Bergen NJ school leaders fight gun shop opening
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Bergen school leaders fight gun shop opening
Owner says business is safe, claims emotion motivates fight to keep it closed
Friday, July 05, 2002
BY ANA M. ALAYA
Star-Ledger Staff
For three decades, a large gun shop did business on Bergen Boulevard in Ridgefield, attracting an international following among gun owners until it closed last year, but little attention from the town's 11,000 residents.
But a former employee's recent attempt to open a new gun shop several blocks away from the former site has alarmed some residents of this Bergen County town.
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The new site is 25 feet from the Bergen Boulevard School, and parents and school leaders are leading a fight to keep the shop from opening.
"It's like an accident waiting to happen," said Christina Vermeal, who has a daughter in first grade. "The safety and welfare of our children is at stake. Why make it easy for someone to get a gun so close to the school? All it takes is one irrational person for a tragedy to happen."
Ron Granito, the owner of the shop, Bergen Sporting Goods, claims the opposition is nothing more than an emotionally fueled, anti-gun campaign, and he has hired attorney Evan Nappen, one of New Jersey's well-known gun-law experts in Eatontown, to defend him.
"This is about emotionalism and politics," Nappen said. "The claims about public safety are absolutely false. New Jersey guns shops are one of the most licensed and regulated industries, with both buyers and sellers heavily regulated. A licensed shop is not a threat to any child."
Granito's store is not the first gun shop to face local opposition in the past several years, though gun shops have coexisted near schools without incident for decades in some parts of the state. New Jersey has 410 shops, the lowest number per capita of any state. Last year, West Long Branch residents fought a shop that tried to open near a school, and in Rockaway, residents were concerned a gun shop threatened the wholesome image of their downtown.
"It's the old 'not-in-my-backyard,'" said Eric Schwab, a New Jersey lawyer who specializes in gun laws. "Despite what people want, guns are still perfectly legal for law-abiding citizens. Just because people don't like guns, they're trying to regulate them out of business."
Nearly 100 people turned out for a zoning hearing last week as lawyers for the Ridgefield Board of Education and Granito sparred over whether a borough official properly allowed the gun shop to open.
The gun and ammunition store at 649 Bergen Blvd. was issued a certificate of occupancy last October and the store opened May 17. The next day, because of objections from school leaders, the town shut the shop down for failing to obtain a zoning certificate.
Board of Education attorney Stanley Turitz told the Board of Adjustment that Granito's business doesn't comply with an ordinance the town council recently passed barring gun shops within 100 feet of a school.
"In the post-Columbine era and 9/11 era," Turitz said, "one looks to signs as to what can cause potential danger. A gun shop next to a school raises the risk of a deranged person getting a hold of guns and ammunition and getting involved with the students."
Granito, a 52-year-old father of two grown sons, and a former employee at Navy Arms, a large gun shop that operated on Bergen Boulevard for decades before the owner retired last year, says he is being treated unfairly. He is scheduled to appear before the Board of Adjustment on July 15.
"In no way was I trying to be deceitful or sneaky," Granito said in an interview at his shop, a 7-foot-by-40-foot store with frosted windows sandwiched between a nail salon and a print store. The gun store is stocked, but remains closed. "I sent a letter to the zoning officer explaining that I planned to sell guns, and I was also required to notify the police department."
Granito also has a letter dated Oct. 16, 2001, from zoning official Robert Rogers, granting him approval to open the shop and stating the sale of guns is an approved use for the commercial zone. He said it would be unfair to be forced to reapply for a permit under the town's new restrictions.
Granito said the shop is heavily secured, with an iron gate and other safety mechanisms. The rifles are behind a display case, and handguns are in locked cabinets. Three of four employees would be off-duty law enforcement officials, as would be a major portion of his clientele. Also, there are many layers of state, federal and local law enforcement background checks required to sell guns, and buy guns, ensuring proper sales, Granito said.
Parents and school officials are unconvinced.
"I'm sure there are a great many good people going to buy guns, but you also have undesirables that might be coming and you're exposing them to the children," said Victoria Cervelli, a parent. "I know it's not fair to his business, but he can move somewhere else. Unfortunately, in this day and age, you have to think of a worst-case scenario. He can't guarantee nothing is going to happen."
Bergen Boulevard School principal Gary Behan said he is worried the gun shop's clients will park on school grounds because there is limited parking for the shop, raising the specter of plain-clothed cops, businessmen or hunters carrying guns on school property. The school also enrolls special education students from 65 towns.
"Where children congregate and play, there shouldn't be guns," Behan said.
There are no state or federal laws barring a gun shop in a school zone, though there are some federal gun-related restrictions within 1,000 feet of a school, according to John D'Angelo, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
"So long as a gun shop is on private property, the owner will not run afoul of the law if he takes possession of firearms," D'Angelo said. "However, if a purchaser were to buy a firearm from the gun store, the purchaser could not posses a firearm within a school zone, unless it was unloaded and in a locked container."
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/102586020825088.xml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Owner says business is safe, claims emotion motivates fight to keep it closed
Friday, July 05, 2002
BY ANA M. ALAYA
Star-Ledger Staff
For three decades, a large gun shop did business on Bergen Boulevard in Ridgefield, attracting an international following among gun owners until it closed last year, but little attention from the town's 11,000 residents.
But a former employee's recent attempt to open a new gun shop several blocks away from the former site has alarmed some residents of this Bergen County town.
Try Our Classifieds
The new site is 25 feet from the Bergen Boulevard School, and parents and school leaders are leading a fight to keep the shop from opening.
"It's like an accident waiting to happen," said Christina Vermeal, who has a daughter in first grade. "The safety and welfare of our children is at stake. Why make it easy for someone to get a gun so close to the school? All it takes is one irrational person for a tragedy to happen."
Ron Granito, the owner of the shop, Bergen Sporting Goods, claims the opposition is nothing more than an emotionally fueled, anti-gun campaign, and he has hired attorney Evan Nappen, one of New Jersey's well-known gun-law experts in Eatontown, to defend him.
"This is about emotionalism and politics," Nappen said. "The claims about public safety are absolutely false. New Jersey guns shops are one of the most licensed and regulated industries, with both buyers and sellers heavily regulated. A licensed shop is not a threat to any child."
Granito's store is not the first gun shop to face local opposition in the past several years, though gun shops have coexisted near schools without incident for decades in some parts of the state. New Jersey has 410 shops, the lowest number per capita of any state. Last year, West Long Branch residents fought a shop that tried to open near a school, and in Rockaway, residents were concerned a gun shop threatened the wholesome image of their downtown.
"It's the old 'not-in-my-backyard,'" said Eric Schwab, a New Jersey lawyer who specializes in gun laws. "Despite what people want, guns are still perfectly legal for law-abiding citizens. Just because people don't like guns, they're trying to regulate them out of business."
Nearly 100 people turned out for a zoning hearing last week as lawyers for the Ridgefield Board of Education and Granito sparred over whether a borough official properly allowed the gun shop to open.
The gun and ammunition store at 649 Bergen Blvd. was issued a certificate of occupancy last October and the store opened May 17. The next day, because of objections from school leaders, the town shut the shop down for failing to obtain a zoning certificate.
Board of Education attorney Stanley Turitz told the Board of Adjustment that Granito's business doesn't comply with an ordinance the town council recently passed barring gun shops within 100 feet of a school.
"In the post-Columbine era and 9/11 era," Turitz said, "one looks to signs as to what can cause potential danger. A gun shop next to a school raises the risk of a deranged person getting a hold of guns and ammunition and getting involved with the students."
Granito, a 52-year-old father of two grown sons, and a former employee at Navy Arms, a large gun shop that operated on Bergen Boulevard for decades before the owner retired last year, says he is being treated unfairly. He is scheduled to appear before the Board of Adjustment on July 15.
"In no way was I trying to be deceitful or sneaky," Granito said in an interview at his shop, a 7-foot-by-40-foot store with frosted windows sandwiched between a nail salon and a print store. The gun store is stocked, but remains closed. "I sent a letter to the zoning officer explaining that I planned to sell guns, and I was also required to notify the police department."
Granito also has a letter dated Oct. 16, 2001, from zoning official Robert Rogers, granting him approval to open the shop and stating the sale of guns is an approved use for the commercial zone. He said it would be unfair to be forced to reapply for a permit under the town's new restrictions.
Granito said the shop is heavily secured, with an iron gate and other safety mechanisms. The rifles are behind a display case, and handguns are in locked cabinets. Three of four employees would be off-duty law enforcement officials, as would be a major portion of his clientele. Also, there are many layers of state, federal and local law enforcement background checks required to sell guns, and buy guns, ensuring proper sales, Granito said.
Parents and school officials are unconvinced.
"I'm sure there are a great many good people going to buy guns, but you also have undesirables that might be coming and you're exposing them to the children," said Victoria Cervelli, a parent. "I know it's not fair to his business, but he can move somewhere else. Unfortunately, in this day and age, you have to think of a worst-case scenario. He can't guarantee nothing is going to happen."
Bergen Boulevard School principal Gary Behan said he is worried the gun shop's clients will park on school grounds because there is limited parking for the shop, raising the specter of plain-clothed cops, businessmen or hunters carrying guns on school property. The school also enrolls special education students from 65 towns.
"Where children congregate and play, there shouldn't be guns," Behan said.
There are no state or federal laws barring a gun shop in a school zone, though there are some federal gun-related restrictions within 1,000 feet of a school, according to John D'Angelo, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
"So long as a gun shop is on private property, the owner will not run afoul of the law if he takes possession of firearms," D'Angelo said. "However, if a purchaser were to buy a firearm from the gun store, the purchaser could not posses a firearm within a school zone, unless it was unloaded and in a locked container."
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/102586020825088.xml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878