Graton Gun Shop Fuels Debate Draws Customers

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — About eight weeks after Hanzo Tactical opened its retail storefront in Graton, an online backlash helped thrust the business into public view, according to co-owner Jonathan Hebel, who said the controversy “got us a lot busier.”

Hebel said the shop grew out of a printing and engraving company after federal firearms licensing requirements tied to engraving led to the decision to expand into firearm sales. After operating from offices in Sebastopol, the business opened its first retail location this spring in unincorporated Graton.

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Their inventory ranges from a slim $169 Savage Arms "Rascal" .22 rifle to the most expensive unit, a Christensen at $4,885.99 — sold only online. In the shop, the price tops out at about $1000.

Customers are often shopping for self-defense or target practice, or law enforcement looking for a firearm they prefer to the standard-issue versions from their agency.

Hebel said the "bread and butter "in Sonoma County are concealed carry firearms, hunting rifles, and a lot of target rifles.He also cast the shop as an alternative to what he described as an often intimidating gun-store culture.

The couple said they opened Hanzo Tactical after feeling talked down to at other firearm retailers and wanted to create a more welcoming business that would welcome women and LGBTQ customers, whom Hebel described as a fast-growing customer segment.

They support Women On Target, which organizes instructional shooting clinics for women, and between them, the couple has 33 years of experience with firearms.

Jonathan counted about 18 years of experience. But he said firearms turned serious when he and his wife had a child to protect. He has since become a firearms instructor.

Koihana shot her first firearm 15 years ago. She said she was familiar with firearms from rifle practice as a teen. Later, she started traveling long distances through Northern California alone on her home health practitioner routes.When she wanted to know more about arming herself, she turned to gun stores for answers. They asked her questions she didn't know how to answer — because she was trying to learn more.

"I didn't really know how to answer, and they were snarky," she said. It was very uncomfortable as a woman being treated that way, Koihana said. "We just very much try to encourage and empower people. No matter who you are, you wanna protect yourself and learn how to do things in a safe way, we're here to help," she said.

Local residents quickly pushed back against the store and called for opposition. One resident suggested organizing a picket of Hanzo, which set off a debate on Nextdoor.

“It was mainly a civil conversation,” Hebel said, adding that even people opposed to firearms argued the shop had a right to operate.

Hebel said the uproar also exposed what he called a widespread misunderstanding about firearm sales. He described the industry as “heavily regulated,” citing federal licensing, local permits, and California Department of Justice oversight, and said every sale requires a background check.

The controversy over their store overlaps with a broader public discussion that has intensified in the past decade, as barriers to owning firearms have been lowered.

Concealed Carry
Around 2022, a man wrote on the Santa Rosa Reddit that, "We're not getting concealed carry in Sonoma County. Get over it or move. There's zero chance. I'm not even anti-gun, but there's no way the people here would stand for it."

That year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York state law that gave officials discretion over who could carry a concealed firearm in public. The ruling wiped out a similar concealed carry statute in California.

County sheriffs and municipal police chiefs — the officials ultimately responsible for issuing permits — were required to begin issuing a license to anyone who met basic legal requirements. The policy went from "may issue" to "shall issue."

Already in 2018, former Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick ran for office in 2018 on a pledge that he would widen access to concealed-carry firearm permits.

Relatively few residents and businesses were listed in the ATF's database as of March 2026.

Petaluma had the highest number of seven cities, a total of 7. Healdsburg had zero. Some are housed in businesses, some in private homes.

However, demand for firearms stores and instructors shot up across Northern California, making it a good time to open one and to be one.

Next Door
The couple is managing growth in a business they say was built as much around education and safety as sales — even as a once-quiet storefront has become a focal point in a larger fight over guns, rights, and community identity.

"A gun shop in Graton?," wrote a resident. "Absolutely not a good idea for obvious reasons already mentioned. There are plenty of places that sell guns within 25 minutes of West Sonoma County."

Another neighbor wrote that although she is not against guns, "the way things are going in this county all the homes and the ugly apartment complexes they've been building and all graffiti and crime that's the last thing we need is a new gun shop whoever decided that is not very bright, At All."

The issue will move offline in May to the Druids Hall in Santa Rosa, where debate over gun rights is scheduled.