``Ninety-two minutes from now, one child will die of a gunshot wound,'' Robinson told the board, citing a national statistic. ``We have a lot to think about before we say yes to this variance.''
James J. Luciano, owner of Luciano's Tavern, 1501 Markley St., needs the zoning approval before he can get his federal firearms sales license renewed under provisions of the 1994 crime bill. It is the first time his three-year license has been up for renewal since the 1994 legislation was passed.
Luciano, a Lansdale resident, told the board that his gun business on Markley Street had never been conducted as an ``open sale store'' and never would be. He said he had sold guns with proper licensing there since the 1980s, and in other areas beginning in 1963.
``I do not advertise,'' he said. ``It's strictly a private business with customers I've been doing business with since 1963. . . . I just don't believe in selling to just anybody or everybody.''
Luciano said he must thoroughly screen customers before arranging the sale of a wide variety of guns, including rifles, handguns and shotguns. The guns are not kept in stock or stored there for more than a day, he said.
But Luciano's words were not reassuring to parent Christina Perrone, who lives across the street from the bar.
``If he knows these customers so well, why can't he bring them to his own home?'' she asked.
Though licensing requirements of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) call for anyone trading in firearms to have ``premises'' in which to conduct business, there are no rules governing the type of premises or other businesses that can be conducted there. It also is legal to hold a firearms sale and transfer license within a school zone.
Mike Price, area supervisor in ATF's Lansdale office, said that while he knew of gun licensees in the region's school zones, he knew of only one gun shop conducted in a northern Pennsylvania tavern.
However, there are additional requirements that a gun-shop owner must meet if the premises are within a school zone, Price said. Among those requirements are that, on delivery or transfer to a customer, guns may not be loaded and must be transported in locked containers.
The zoning board plans to announce its decision at its next meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. March 24. The request was recommended for approval by Planning Commission members earlier this month.
