San Gabriel Valley : Coalition Protests Opening of Gun Shop Near Preschool

Protesters objecting to the opening of a Pasadena gun store just a few doors from a preschool and a church marched with a child’s casket from the store to City Hall on Monday demanding that the City Council restrict where guns may be sold.

Saying that the casket symbolizes the consequences of firearms, the group of about three dozen anti-violence activists, church leaders and neighborhood boosters called for a local ordinance that would prevent gun dealerships from opening near child-care centers, churches, schools and residential areas.

The casket contained cards calling for Pasadena officials to adopt laws similar to those in Sacramento, Berkeley and Santa Monica that restrict gun sales.

“The city has the right and the ability to restrict where guns are sold. No gun store should open next to a child-care center,” said Vannia De Le Cuba of the Coalition for a Nonviolent City.

The protesters picketed outside Diamond Jim’s Pawnshop and Concealed Firearms, which is preparing to open in the same block of North Lake Avenue as the Lake Avenue Congregational Church and its preschool, before heading to City Hall.

Since March 11, the protesters have held “Monday Mourning” pickets outside the store. But city Planning Director Alvin James said that under existing city laws, a gun store is treated no differently than a toy store and there was nothing the city could do to prevent the pawnshop and gun store from opening.

Diamond Jim’s owner did not return telephone calls seeking comment. But he has publicly said his store will only carry antique weapons. Pasadena has 52 federally licensed firearms dealers and two gun shops. Last year, Pasadena became the first city in the country to require the registration of ammunition sales.