A quaint Camden County borough of about 3,800, Merchantville is best known for Victorian architecture and, lately, a move to merge with adjacent Cherry Hill. But unlike the notion of Merchantville becoming one with its far larger neighbor, the RayCo Armory sparked no opposition.
Until recently.
A letter by DiSalvo published last month in the Merchantville Observer, urging citizens to sign a petition to prevent any additional gun shops, drew an e-mail that accused her of wanting to subvert the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
RayCo is "a WELCOME addition to the area," the e-mail read in part, continuing, "people have rights, GOD given rights, to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
The store opened 13 months ago on Centre Street and Cuthbert Road in a cluster of commercial buildings surrounded by dense residential streets.
Law enforcement professionals and hunters make up much of the clientele at RayCo, which is owned by two affable brothers named Ray and Gary Veitenheimer. They grew up nearby and say they're an asset, not a liability, to the community.
"We've actually lowered crime," says Ray, 29, who lives in Merchantville.
"There's no riffraff around here," adds Gary, 33, of Riverside.
Says Borough Council President Edward Brennan, who oversees Merchantville's public-safety departments: "Everyone has a concern about guns, but I don't have a great concern about the store itself. There hasn't been a problem. And I haven't had people come up to me and say, 'What's this store doing in town?' "
I hadn't noticed RayCo either, until DiSalvo pointed it out on a recent blustery morning. Like a half dozen nearby businesses, it's partly obscured by a huge fried-chicken establishment.
