Some Newton City Councilors To Call For Ban On Sale Of Firearms

NEWTON, MA — Two city councilors are pushing to have Newton place an outright ban on gun shops in Newton.

City Councilors Lenny Gentile and Emily Norton docketed the proposal, supported by several other councilors, according to Gentile. It's one of three proposed responses set to come before the city council May 17, as a gun shop poised to open in the city garnered pushback from residents.

"Why don't we concentrate on trying to prevent a gun shop from opening in Newton?.... Why don't we do what everybody wants us to do?" Gentile said during a zoning and planning committee meeting Thursday night during a discussion on a proposal to severely restrict gun shop businesses in town. Gentile said that since it came out that a gun store was set to open in town, he'd received hundreds of emails, the vast majority of which were anti-gun shop.

The zoning committee meeting was a follow-up to the four-hour hearing Monday night that drew more than 500 people, dozens of whom gave their opinion on the proposal and having a gun shop in town. Most of the people approved the strict regulation, though several residents asked for a ban. There were others, however, that argued against any regulation, calling it unconstitutional.

When did this start?

Although the mayor was alerted that the licensing process in late March, residents learned of the proposed shop around 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.

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 a week later, 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 last 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. It was through that meeting that they developed a proposal to rezone for gun shops.

Related:

• Residents Protest Gun Store Set To Come To Newton
• Newton Issues Stop-Work Order To Planned Gun Store
• Owner Of Proposed Gun Store Applied In January ...
• Newton Residents Push For Strong Regulations At Gun Shops

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.