Management says Joliet gun shop built for safety

Danny Gonzalez said he has felt welcomed in a Joliet neighborhood since the gun shop he manages opened in February.

“I was surprised how much support we had when we opened up,” Gonzalez said. “We had just literally opened our doors, and people showed up.”

Some of his customers, he said, live close to the gun shop, just doors away from Casper Shooting, 366 Ruby St.

But not everyone was pleased to see the gun shop open.

Concerns brought to City Hall have led to the City Council declaring a moratorium on any new gun shops until Joliet develops rules and regulations for how stores operate and perhaps where they are located.

Gonzalez and store co-owner Ken Wallace said they are not worried about rules regulating store security.

Wallace described the building as “a fortress.”

Steel bars cover the windows and doors. The building is made of concrete and steel – even the ceiling is concrete. The shop contains a vault, also made of concrete and steel, built for Casper Shooting.

“There are no weapons in the shop once we close the door. Everything goes in the safe,” Wallace said.

Although Joliet does not have specific regulations for gun shops, Wallace and co-owner Marianne Casper, did need to get a business license.

“That meant bringing the building up to code,” Wallace said. The owners also have a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, he said.

In addition to being co-owner of the store, Wallace is a certified instructor for concealed-carry licensing.

Gonzalez has worked as a gunsmith for more than 12 years at several stores, including big-box retailers and independents. Not all stores have the level of security built into Casper Shooting, he said.

The city has no rules and regulations for gun shops, which apparently was not an issue when they were sold only at big-box stores such as Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods. But once independently owned Casper Shooting opened, Joliet officials decided they needed to have rules to at least ensure a small store would be secure and safe.

City Attorney Marty Shanahan, at a June 6 meeting of the Joliet City Council land use and legislative committee, proposed rules on store security, safe storage of weapons and gun displays. He did not include any limits on where gun shops are located. The committee wanted a deeper look at possible regulations, including possible limits on location.

“This is why we’re here,” Councilwoman Jan Quillman said at the meeting, “because we discovered the gun shop went in a residential area, and we didn’t have an ordinance.”

Ruby Street is a commercial street. But like many older commercial streets in Joliet, there is little or no buffer between the businesses and the homes behind them.

Gonzalez, a Joliet resident who does not live far from the store, said he was not looking for a location in Joliet, but chose the Ruby Street spot because of the building.

“I like this – for one, the security of it,” he said. “Number two – location. It’s in the heart of Joliet.”

The moratorium set in June was for six months. But Shanahan said he likely will have proposed regulations later this summer.

Without saying what will be in the rules, Shanahan said, “We’re looking at various options for the city – looking at other communities.”