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Gunsmith denied OK to open shop
Resident planned home-based business
By Jenni Glenn
The Journal Gazette
The Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals shot down a south-side man’s request to operate a firearms business from his home Thursday.
Indiana Avenue resident Brock Bell wanted to work part time as a precision gunsmith, who would make competition rifles shoot more accurately. But the Board of Zoning Appeals decided the business could harm the community and was not in the public interest.
About 15 neighbors who attended the meeting argued there was nothing to stop Bell from expanding the business and selling guns.
The business could have reduced property values and increased crime in the neighborhood, said Melissa Skalicky, president of the West Rudisill Neighborhood Association. People who were looking for guns might have broken into nearby homes if they knew there was a firearms business in the area, she said.
Skalicky said several neighbors planned to sell their homes for below-market price if the firearms business were approved.
The residents were concerned they would not be able to sell if they waited while property values dropped, she said.
“I beg of you, please don’t do this to the south side of town,” she said.
Bell needed the board’s approval to obtain a federal firearms license that would have allowed him to ship and receive firearms in the mail. Most of his customers would have been from outside the region because competition shooting is a specialized hobby, he said.
Bell said he planned to keep the guns secured in a safe to discourage break-ins. At most, he would have stored five guns in his home while he was repairing and upgrading the weapons.
Bell also said no more than one customer would visit the business a week. He said he wanted to reassure the neighbors that the business would be run responsibly.
“I appreciate their concerns,” he said. “That’s why I had to address their concerns upfront.”
Six of Bell’s neighbors and a police officer signed letters supporting the business.
But the business’s potential benefit to a few local customers in a specialized field did not override the neighbors’ concerns, Board of Zoning Appeals member Andy Downs said. The business would not have been compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, he said.
“In my opinion, I don’t see how the public convenience and welfare will be met,” he said.
Although Bell planned to focus on repairing and improving competition rifles, the federal license would have allowed him to sell other guns. Marcia Heymann, chairwoman of the zoning committee for the Southwest Area Partnership, said she worried the gunsmith business would expand into sales.
“The issue becomes not necessarily the intent in selling (guns),” she said, “it’s the ability to sell them.”
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/12254018.htm
....or someone might say the word "gun" and little old ladies would be fainting....
Resident planned home-based business
By Jenni Glenn
The Journal Gazette
The Fort Wayne Board of Zoning Appeals shot down a south-side man’s request to operate a firearms business from his home Thursday.
Indiana Avenue resident Brock Bell wanted to work part time as a precision gunsmith, who would make competition rifles shoot more accurately. But the Board of Zoning Appeals decided the business could harm the community and was not in the public interest.
About 15 neighbors who attended the meeting argued there was nothing to stop Bell from expanding the business and selling guns.
The business could have reduced property values and increased crime in the neighborhood, said Melissa Skalicky, president of the West Rudisill Neighborhood Association. People who were looking for guns might have broken into nearby homes if they knew there was a firearms business in the area, she said.
Skalicky said several neighbors planned to sell their homes for below-market price if the firearms business were approved.
The residents were concerned they would not be able to sell if they waited while property values dropped, she said.
“I beg of you, please don’t do this to the south side of town,” she said.
Bell needed the board’s approval to obtain a federal firearms license that would have allowed him to ship and receive firearms in the mail. Most of his customers would have been from outside the region because competition shooting is a specialized hobby, he said.
Bell said he planned to keep the guns secured in a safe to discourage break-ins. At most, he would have stored five guns in his home while he was repairing and upgrading the weapons.
Bell also said no more than one customer would visit the business a week. He said he wanted to reassure the neighbors that the business would be run responsibly.
“I appreciate their concerns,” he said. “That’s why I had to address their concerns upfront.”
Six of Bell’s neighbors and a police officer signed letters supporting the business.
But the business’s potential benefit to a few local customers in a specialized field did not override the neighbors’ concerns, Board of Zoning Appeals member Andy Downs said. The business would not have been compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, he said.
“In my opinion, I don’t see how the public convenience and welfare will be met,” he said.
Although Bell planned to focus on repairing and improving competition rifles, the federal license would have allowed him to sell other guns. Marcia Heymann, chairwoman of the zoning committee for the Southwest Area Partnership, said she worried the gunsmith business would expand into sales.
“The issue becomes not necessarily the intent in selling (guns),” she said, “it’s the ability to sell them.”
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/news/local/12254018.htm
....or someone might say the word "gun" and little old ladies would be fainting....
