San Francisco’s last gun shop is shutting down at the end of October as city legislators consider stricter gun control measures.
High Bridge Arms manager Steve Alcairo told the Associated Press staff decided to close the 63-year-old store after a city supervisor began moving legislation that would require the shop to install video surveillance to record each gun sale and give the police weekly reports on ammunition sales.
“I’m not doing that to our customers. Enough is enough,” Alcairo told the Associated Press. “Buying a gun is a constitutionally protected right. Our customers shouldn’t be treated like they’re doing something wrong.”
Alcairo announced the closure with “tremendous sadness and regret” in a Sept. 11 Facebook post, telling customers the store would slash prices for its remaining inventory.
“It has been a long and difficult ride, but a great pleasure to be you’re [sic] last San Francisco Gun shop,” he wrote.
The National Rifle Association swiftly responded to the announcement, calling the High Bridge Arms closure the latest result of San Francisco’s “intolerable” firearm regulations.
“Looking at this entire regulatory scheme, it becomes painfully obvious that San Francisco’s intent is to simply make it unfeasible to operate a gun store within the city,” the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action wrote.
San Francisco Supervisor Mark Farrell told SFGate and the San Francisco Chronicle he proposed the latest gun control regulations to promote public safety and assist police with investigations.
He said he finds it “incredibly hard to believe” that the store decided to close because of his measure, given that the legislation has not yet been voted on.
But Alcairo blamed the bill’s introduction in July for significantly “slowed sales” over the summer, forcing him to lay off three employees, according to the Associated Press.
High Bridge Arms has long been the target of extensive firearms regulations in the city, including a ban on displays and ads in its front windows, required cameras outside the store, and “a requirement to turn over video surveillance to police upon request,” according to IJ Review.
Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, called the shop’s closure “the end of an era.”
“For years, whenever the Board of Supervisors or voters passed a law to restrict the sale of guns or ammunition, we were really only talking about one store—High Bridge Arms,” he told SFGate.