Brookline To Consider Proposal To Limit Firearm Businesses

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline will consider a warrant article for the fall Town Meeting that proposes limiting where gun stores can be located in town.

Under the proposal, which was submitted by Town Meeting members Petra Bignami, Janice Kahn, Alexandra Metral, and Sharon Schoffman, firearm businesses would only be allowed by special permit in General Business zoning districts and could not be located near residential areas, K-12 schools and childcare facilities, or other gun stores.

The proposal comes after the City of Newton approved strict zoning rules for gun stores in June that limited them to three locations, including the corner of Rumford and Riverview Avenues, North Street near Waltham, or along Route 9 in Chestnut Hill. This action was in response to a gun store attempting to open on Washington Street.

"When the issue of the gun store going into Newton, that got everybody's attention I think about potentially a flaw in the towns land use that might allow gun stores in places we don't want, and so I asked the planning department to begin to work on that," said Town Administrator Mel Kleckner at the August 31 Select Board meeting.

"I think it's a very good article that's been proposed, it's essentially the Newton model," he continued.

Despite the timing of Brookline's proposed zoning bylaw, Kahn said it is not an exact copy of Newton's zoning rules.

"This is in no way the same as Newton's zoning ordinance," she said. "That was a reactive ordinance that was put together and we are not being reactive, we are being very proactive, and we actually have a much more elegant zoning proposal than Newton."

In addition to the article warrant, a temporary, six-month-long gun store moratorium was also up for consideration, a proposal Kahn said she was against due to potential legal issues and the fact that Newton was advised not to enact a ban.

“I worry that if we do a moratorium, we’re actually going to create an issue that really shouldn’t have any bandwidth in this town," said Kahn.

At the end of the discussion, Select Board members decided against voting on the potential moratorium.