Marcia Chambers Photo
Nancy Lynch’s name was at the top of the sign-in list at the second public hearing on the future of gun shops in Branford.
When her name was called, Lynch (pictured) stood to say she has nothing against gun stores, but she cares where they are located. Put them on Route 1, she said. “They don’t belong in the town’s historic district.” They fall in the same category, she said, as a “frisky movie theater.” She called such businesses “inappropriate” for the center of our beautiful Branford.”
The second public hearing was scheduled for three hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, but it ended after just one hour — not unlike the first public meeting on Thursday night. (Click here to read about that meeting.) Eight residents officially signed up to speak. In all 16 addressed the issue, some from the floor as they gathered in a room at fire headquarters. None of the speakers were merchants in the area near the gun shop.
As it turned out Lynch was in the clear minority at the hearing.
The gun store issue began shortly after a gun shop announced it would be opening at l156 Main St. near the Town Green. The shop, originally to be called The Gun Stock, elicited little public reaction until a 20-year-old Sandy Hook man named Adam Lanza opened fire on December 14 inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School, gunning down 20 children and six educators. Soon after, the gun shop owners changed their store’s name to TGS Outdoors.
Those who spoke at the Saturday meeting included several residents who gave similar information at the Thursday night meeting. They not only supported TGS Outdoors but generally came down on the side of business, the free market and the need for commercial diversity. In short, they said the town’s legislators should not impose rules where they need not go.
The Saturday hearing was conducted by an ad hoc committee of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), which is investigating the possibility of creating of an ordinance to regulate where gun shops go in the future.
Diana Stricker Photo
Adam Hansen (pictured), the committee chair, told the Eagle after the hearing the committee will now review all statements given at the two public hearings along with e‑mails and letters it has received and then decide whether to vote it “up or down.”
Diana Stricker Photo
The subcommittee, comprised of two Democrats, Hansen and Yvette Larrieu, and two Republicans, Attorney Peter Black and Ray Ingraham, will report back to the RTM’s Rules & Ordinance Committee.
To go forward with legislation, the committee and possibly the RTM — if it gets that far — must first find that health and safety issues preclude new gun shops from opening near schools, playgrounds, or parks.
Hansen said in an interview that a simple majority cannot decide the path of this legislation. “You need to prove there is a viable concern about health and safety. “It is not people standing up and saying I don’t want a gun store in the center of town. That is not enough.”
The committee will also receive information from various town boards and department heads, including the town’s center revitalization board which oversees the historic area, the Planning & Zoning Commission and the town engineer. So far only the town engineer, Janice Plaziak, has been interviewed, Hansen said.
Following the Newtown tragedy, the public outcry against a gun shop in the Town Center reached the desk of First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos. After he received numerous phone calls and the petition, he requested that RTM consider an ordinance restricting the placement of future gun shops.
DaRos, who made the announcement during a Board of Selectmen’s meeting, said an ordinance could prohibit gun shops being placed near schools, parks and playgrounds. He said it could have restrictions similar to the RTM’s ordinance regarding adult-oriented businesses.
“It’s not to stop those businesses. It’s to locate them in a more appropriate area,” DaRos said during a previous meeting. He said any new ordinance would not affect the gun shop that recently opened on Main Street, since it has located there prior to the ordinance and would be “grandfathered in.”
Several speakers wrongly believed a new gun ordinance was aimed at closing the new gun shop which is located in the building that housed Arabella’s, a dress shop. Michael Higgins and Brian Owens are partners in the business. Higgins’s father-in-law owns the building, which is near the town Green.
With the exception of Lynch and Marjorie Thompson, who said she found it “unsettling to find a shop that sells firearms in the center of our town,” not one of the remaining speakers agreed with them.
Typically historic districts have been able to preserve the character and appearance within their borders. To a large degree, the TGS Outdoors does that. There is no gun visible in the high long windows, only sporting goods paraphernalia. Inside, the store has a field and stream look to it, with oriental carpets on the floor, along with a cat seated on a fashionable chair.
Steven O’Neill, who spoke on Thursday night, noted again on Saturday that not one of the 154 people who signed a petition against the gun shop attended either hearing to voice their concerns. He observed that because of Newtown people may have been frightened and “stressed out” when they signed the petition.
He observed that the gun store “looks like a boutique from outside. I don’t want to offend anyone but I feel just as uncomfortable walking into a boutique. … I feel very comfortable in the gun shop because I know the gun shops are regulated by the federal government, state government, and our local government.” Indeed, he added “nothing is regulated more than the gun industry.”
He observed that firearms have been a large part of “our country’s history from day one. And if it wasn’t for firearms we might not even be a country right now. It is part of our history and part of the historic part of Branford. This is how we got our town. We had enough sense to make better guns than our enemies did. That is why we are all here today.”
Joe Finkel, 28, (pictured) said he and his wife were walking near the town Green one day recently when he noticed the new gun store. “We went to the door and it was closed and the gentleman invited us in, showed us guns and told us about his life. I didn’t feel threatened. I didn’t feel unsafe. In fact I actually like it. Now I don’t have to drive 45 minutes to get ammo. The feeling I got from it,” he said, “is that the owners are knowledgeable about guns, gun control and gun safety.”
Frank Whelan, who has attended all the meetings on the gun issue, recalled the time when he was growing up in Branford and attended a parochial school in New Haven. Every Thursday, he said, he went to a gun club at the Winchester gun factory in the city.
“I would take my .22 caliber rifle on the bus, unsheathed, and bring it to my parochial school. And the nuns had me store in it in the corner. After school they gave me the gun and I took it back on the bus and went to the Winchester club. And then I made a return trip back. And nobody said anything. I can’t imagine what is going on here today,” he declared.
People, he said, have become hysterical regarding the new gun store. “I knew them in Old Saybrook,” he said of Owens, referring to the North Cove Outfitters, which was on Main Street.
“Now they are here. I think they are an asset. I cannot believe people are bashing them. This is a nice store.”
“May I defend myself? Lynch asked. Hansen said he would first call on those who had yet to speak.
Jaycee Wyatt (pictured), who introduced herself as an independent candidate for first selectman, said she did not believe an ordinance was necessary “at this time.” She said just counting the numbers at the hearings, “it looks like a lot more people don’t want this ordinance than do.”
She said it was time for Branford to attract other businesses, naming Macy’s Tiffany’s and Prada as her examples.
Lynch, who opened the hearing, was called on as the hearing drew to a close.
She said her point was “the appropriateness of putting the store at the center of town.”
She maintained that it was totally appropriate for the RTM to legislate against gun shops in an historic district.
Higgins (pictured) has attended all of the hearings. He observed that his business was a legitimate, legal business. “I think we have added diversity to this town, and I think it was much needed,” he observed, adding his store was not a safety or health hazard.
Ingraham, a member of the subcommittee, asked Higgins how often customers can fire a weapon in his store.
“Nobody does it,” Higgins said. “No loaded firearms are allowed in. There is no range. And nothing is allowed in or out without a lock on it or in a locked case,” he said to a round of strong applause.
Lynch was not convinced. “I am just glad I don’t live next door to the gun shop,” she blurted out.
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