Owner Of Proposed Gun Store Applied For Newton License In January

NEWTON, MA — Mayor Ruthanne Fuller knew about the proposed gun shop on Washington Street about two months after the proposed shop owner applied for a local license and nearly three weeks before a group of residents petitioned the city to regulate the shop's opening.

"During the week of March 29, NPD moved forward the paperwork on the application and I first learned that a gun store was proposed for Washington Street," Fuller said in a statement Thursday night.

It had been decades since a gun shop had applied for a firearms sales license in town. She said "internal discussions" focused on what powers and options the city had to approve firearm sales licenses.

Residents didn't catch wind of the proposed shop until April 15. They set to work and petitioned the city to do something to regulate their location, if not ban them. Within 12 hours, hundreds had signed the petition. As of April 30, more than 8,000 people have signed it.

On April 16, the day after the petition launched, the mayor and City Council docketed proposed amendments to limit the dealers to certain zoning districts, require special permit approval from the City Council, and buffers between a store and sensitive locations.

Then last week the city’s Inspectional Services Department issued a stop work order at 709 Washington St., because the store owner did not have a building permit, which is necessary to do the type of renovation work being done, according to the city.

The City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee began deliberations this week on how to regulate where firearms can be sold in Newton. For two hours, councilors discussed everything from whether the city had the power to ban the sale of guns, to the possibility of creating a specific zoning ordinance specific to gun shops.

The city’s attorneys are looking into how the city can regulate guns sales, keeping the Second Amendment to the Constitution in mind.

The committee will hold a public hearing May 10 to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on this issue for the first time.

Several people in the group Stop Gun Stores In Newton said they were confused at how long it took for the city to make public the application process.

The application didn't come into the police station until Jan. 27, according to the mayor's office. Per protocol, such an application for a license to sell firearms, perform services as a gunsmith and sell ammunition goes to the police chief for approval.

However, the application can't be fully processed until the applicant gets state and federal review. That didn't happen until March 17, according to the mayor's office.

The business owner has not applied for the appropriate building permit. Since the proposed firearm dealer use has not yet opened at this location, should the City Council pass the proposed zoning amendments, the business would be prohibited from operating at the current prospective location.

Watch the latest discussion (starts at 1:36:23):