Do local governments across Virginia have zoning authority to tell gun stores where they can be located and, maybe more importantly, where they can’t be located?
What happens if a gun store opens within 100 yards of your local elementary school? Does your local city council or board of supervisors have zoning authority to say where the gun store can be located and ostensibly where it can’t be located?
Attorney General Mark Herring says yes, they do. However, Virginia legal expert Rich Kelsey says not if it interrupts purchases. “That’s going to be the key question because if you can tell somebody where they put their store such that it becomes either inconvenient or their store can’t be placed anywhere that would, in fact, affect the purchase.”
The Attorney General issued the opinion after receiving an inquiry from Democratic Delegate Sam Rasoul of Roanoke. Rasoul was concerned after a gun store opened in Salem within a direct line of sight from a playground and classrooms.
But Philip Van Cleave with the Virginia Citizens Defense League argues the mere proximity or visibility of a gun store doesn't create a problem. “Guns are not a disease. Guns are not something like Medusa’s head that if you look at it, you’ll suddenly turn to stone,” Van Cleave says. “It’s just people purchasing something perfectly legal. I’m sure there are stores in a certain distance of the school, 7-Elevens and stuff, that sell alcohol and maybe have certain magazines.”
Local governments across Virginia are considering how they want to respond now that the attorney general has determined they have zoning authority to regulate where gun shops can be located.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
