cuchulainn
March 22, 2003, 12:36 PM
from the Kentucky Post
http://www.kypost.com/2003/03/21/guns032103.html
Gun shop owner vows to fight law
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
Newport gun shop owner Peter Garrett is vowing to push the General Assembly to overturn a state court decision that limits his ability to open new stores in Bellevue and Dayton.
He already has the support of the National Rifle Association, he said, and is seeking a sponsor for the bill.
"We're going to go to the state legislature next year, and we're going to change the law,'' said Garrett, the owner of Peter Garrett Gunsmith on Monmouth Street in Newport.
Garrett received word this month that the state Supreme Court would not hear his appeal of a zoning decision that stopped his attempts to expand into the two river cities. He says his current store is too small.
Both cities restrict gun shops in certain business zones, although they are allowed in others. Garrett -- who owns land in the restricted zones -- maintained the zoning code violated state law, which prohibits cities from regulating guns.
But first Campbell Circuit Judge Leonard Kopowski and later the state Court of Appeals disagreed with him, saying cities are not regulating guns but businesses, and they have the right to do so.
Kopowski ruled that zoning laws "are a valid exercise of the respective cities' police power."
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case. That effectively upholds the lower court decisions.
Garrett was suspicious of the timing of the court's decision. He wanted to have the 2003 General Assembly consider the issue if the Supreme Court justices ruled against him.
"Two days after the (legislative) session ends, they (the Supreme Court) send out notice they're not going to hear my case,'' he said.
"I may be a conspiracy theorist, but that's too coincidental for me.''
Publication Date: 03-21-2003
http://www.kypost.com/2003/03/21/guns032103.html
Gun shop owner vows to fight law
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
Newport gun shop owner Peter Garrett is vowing to push the General Assembly to overturn a state court decision that limits his ability to open new stores in Bellevue and Dayton.
He already has the support of the National Rifle Association, he said, and is seeking a sponsor for the bill.
"We're going to go to the state legislature next year, and we're going to change the law,'' said Garrett, the owner of Peter Garrett Gunsmith on Monmouth Street in Newport.
Garrett received word this month that the state Supreme Court would not hear his appeal of a zoning decision that stopped his attempts to expand into the two river cities. He says his current store is too small.
Both cities restrict gun shops in certain business zones, although they are allowed in others. Garrett -- who owns land in the restricted zones -- maintained the zoning code violated state law, which prohibits cities from regulating guns.
But first Campbell Circuit Judge Leonard Kopowski and later the state Court of Appeals disagreed with him, saying cities are not regulating guns but businesses, and they have the right to do so.
Kopowski ruled that zoning laws "are a valid exercise of the respective cities' police power."
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case. That effectively upholds the lower court decisions.
Garrett was suspicious of the timing of the court's decision. He wanted to have the 2003 General Assembly consider the issue if the Supreme Court justices ruled against him.
"Two days after the (legislative) session ends, they (the Supreme Court) send out notice they're not going to hear my case,'' he said.
"I may be a conspiracy theorist, but that's too coincidental for me.''
Publication Date: 03-21-2003