Brew City Shooter’s Supply Need Not Sell Gun To Everyone With $200
There is no shortage of national angst over the bloody gun attack in a Colorado movie theatre last week. I have spent a fair amount of time the past few days reviewing the national press for opinions on our gun culture, as well as reading the international press which has a rightfully dim view of our gun laws. What is wrong with America, is the refrain that not only is registered in Europe, but in many homes on this side of the Atlantic, including ours.
In the mix of gun stories comes one dealing with a new business in an old location in West Milwaukee known for its bizarre habit of selling guns to criminals–who ended up shooting police officers. I have written a number of posts in the past about Badger Guns.
When Brew City Shooter’s Supply operated under the names Badger Guns and Badger Outdoors and under different owners, the location was the top seller of crime guns recovered by Milwaukee police for more than a decade. Over two years, six Milwaukee police officers were wounded in guns sold by Badger Guns or Badger Outdoors. Four of the officers sued those stores; their cases are pending.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had thoughts for the new business.
The new owner of a West Milwaukee gun shop in a location that has a history of selling crime guns should be placed on a short leash now that the store has received a federal firearms license to sell guns again.
Mike Allan, owner of Brew City Shooter’s Supply deserves credit for putting measures in place to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Anyone who purchases a gun from his store will have to become a “member” and demonstrate that he or she can fire and safely handle a gun. Potential buyers without gun experience must take a class at his location to become a member.
Time will tell if that change will be enough to keep people who buy guns for criminals out of his shop.
Gun advocates argue that stores are no more responsible for selling guns that may be used in crimes than tavern owners are responsible for a patron who later leaves the bar and causes an accident on the highway. We think that’s a specious argument. Gun sellers need to be more responsible. The impact guns have had on some areas of the city as well as the number of officers injured in the past two years should be enough evidence to give sellers pause regarding the way guns apparently have been sold in the past.
The Milwaukee police and the ATF should watch Brew City closely but also work with the new owner to ensure that guns don’t end up in the hands of criminals. When that happens, no one wins.
