Another north Phoenix application to start home gun business causes concern

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Phoenix man’s plans to sell guns out of his home aren’t sitting well with some of his neighbors near 56th Street and Bell Road.

“It’s not the appropriate place for a business, especially one that can harm people,” said one neighbor, who didn’t want to share her name.

She says this is not about being anti-gun.

“We’re only against having a business in a family neighborhood that someone could sell guns from their home, have ammo inside their home, which could be extremely dangerous,” she said.

The mom says she loves her close-knit family community and does not like how her neighbor has handled this.

“There has been zero outreach,” she said.

The city has a list of protocols you must follow before you can turn your home into any type of business. She claims her neighbor has not followed all of the required steps.

“If he can’t even fill out the application properly, his sign is not placed right, then how do we know that he’s going to vet the people that are buying the guns properly?” she said.

He applied for two permits with the city: one to turn his home into a business and another to allow more traffic related to the new home business.

He would need different approval from the ATF to sell firearms out of his home.

A city of Phoenix spokesperson shared a statement.

The woman Arizona’s Family talked to says she heard about his plan through the grapevine.

“His hope is to sell guns to his friends and family because there’s many fees that he has to pay that he doesn’t believe are, they’re too high and he wants to get rid of some of those fees and do it from his house,” she said.

Now, there’s a petition going around to try to stop this, and about 75 signatures have been collected.

All share fears about decreased property values and increased traffic near their houses, which are close to schools.

“We went door-to-door yesterday and people were shocked that this was happening,” she said.

Arizona’s Family made several attempts to get in touch with the homeowner at the center of the controversy, but we did not get a response.

Neighbors say they plan to make their voices heard at a public zoning adjustment hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.

We’ll keep you posted on if the city grants him the permits.

A few months ago, we told you about another homeowner who wanted to run a gun business out of his home. This was also in north Phoenix, just about four miles away near 34th Street and Utopia Road.

The city told us Wednesday that the homeowner’s business permit was approved, but their traffic permit was denied.

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