Controversy continues over Hoschton gun shop

Sandie Romer publicly denounced the city’s actions on June 3 after she said a Hoschton business was treated unfairly by officials. Her comments to newspapers followed a tense exchange before a closed-door meeting by the council.

“They’re telling the business that they’re revoking their license,” Romer said Thursday.

The debate centers around SM Solutions — which sells self-defense products, including guns and tasers — at the Trigger Shop.

The store initially opened on Jackson Trail Road, but moved to the Hoschton Towne Center shopping center off Ga. Hwy. 53 in 2009. The store is now located at 4164 Ga. Hwy. 53.

The Trigger Shop was issued a Hoschton business license for retail sales, but was later told by city clerk Cindy George that it needed a new business license because it started selling guns and ammunition.

The store paid the $100 fee for a new business license after George came in to the Trigger Shop in April.

But city officials still contend that the Trigger Shop is not a permitted use in Hoschton’s code, according to store owner Bill Topping.

However, Topping said he hasn’t heard directly from the city on why the gun store isn’t a permitted use.

“From what I understand, from one of the council people, they are planning on doing something,” he said. “And it’s to move us out of town, not to help us do business and be thankful for the tax dollars that we’re bringing.”

Hoschton Mayor Erma Denney referred questions on the issue to Mayor Pro Tem Theresa Kenerly or city clerk George. Denney is helping her husband recover from surgery after a recent accident.

George referred questions to city attorney Thomas Mitchell, who didn’t return two Tuesday morning phone calls by deadline.

Meanwhile, Topping said he has hired an attorney to handle the case.

Last week, council member Scott Butler sent multiple copies of the same email to Romer outlining her options in the SM Solutions/Trigger Shop business license.

Romer was told that she could contact newspapers and tell them that she was “not in possession of all of the relevant facts regarding the SM Solutions/Trigger Shop paperwork and now know(s) that everything is in compliance,” according to the email.

That option would have allowed SM Solutions/Trigger Shop to continue to operate while the city changes its ordinance, according to Butler’s email.

Another option would have involved George returning a $100 check — one of two business licenses paid by the company for 2010 — to the store and its original business license allowing the sale of non-lethal self defense products. Romer was told either she or a representative for the city could take the check to the store.
The second option would mean that SM Solutions/Trigger Shop — along with a second gun dealership in Hoschton, Dixie Ammo Dump — would have to stop selling firearms and ammo until the city council could create an ordinance allowing those businesses and vote on it in July, according to the email.

Hoschton’s code of ordinance doesn’t prohibit firearms dealers, Romer said.

The ordinance only prohibits adult entertainment businesses that sell alcohol, according to the document posted on the city’s website.

“If it’s not specifically excluded, then there’s nothing saying they can’t exist,” Romer said.

Hoschton’s ordinance, however, does specify that certain businesses in the city get their state license before the city issues a business permit. One of those businesses is a firearms dealer.

SM Solutions received its state and federal firearms license in February.

Topping said if Hoschton officials were to ban other businesses that are not specifically prohibited in the ordinance, then at least half of the stores in the city would be affected.

“The flower shop next door is a non-permitted use,” he said. “There’s no where in the code that says, ‘flower shop.’”

Butler’s email to Romer also raised the possibility that Dixie Ammo Dump, located on Amy Industrial Lane, would have its business license affected by the controversy.

Cliff Brown — owner of Dixie Ammo Dump — said that to his knowledge, no code enforcement officer on behalf of the city has approached his business.

“I’ve been trying to hang low and stay out of it, so I don’t want to cause any rift or any problems,” Brown said Monday.

Topping said after his company paid its 2010 business license fee twice to settle any issues with the city, he wants the issue to go away.

“We just want to run our business,” he said.

Since the controversy was featured by an Atlanta television news station on Friday, Topping said he has received support from gun lobbyists, area residents and businesses.

“We had a man here yesterday who saw us on the news, who lived in Douglasville, and he was on his way to North Carolina,” Topping said. “He saw the Hoschton exit on the intestate and said, ‘I know y’all are on the main street.’ And he came in and spent $320. He said, ‘I want to support the cause.’”