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Steve Alcairo: Let's see…I had been there since '05.That was around when Prop H, the handgun ban, popped up, right?
Yeah, it was.What was that like?
You know, it was kind of strange because typically the topic of politics or what have you is something we just kind of keep out of the shop. Before High Bridge, I was at Jackson Arms, and I learned that it was probably a good idea to kind of have bar-type rules, where you really didn't talk about politics and religion and things like that. But When the Prop H came out, though, I did speak to a lot of our clients and a lot of them admitted to me that they didn't even vote on it.Are San Francisco gun owners kind of lazy about supporting gun rights?
Yes. Absolutely. Because what you find is that most San Franciscans that actually do own them, have the attitude of live and let live. Although they disagree with any kind of ordinance or anything they try to pass on the city level, a lot of them just figure that there are enough gun [owners] out there, so it won't pass.And then none of them vote.
Right. That was the bulk answer I got. They're just like, "You know what? I generally don't vote. I don't like the government. I don't like them sticking their hands [in my business]." But to me, I mean, that's kind of contradicting themselves because if they didn't like that, they should be keeping tabs on what the elected officials are doing at the municipal level—because if you're not paying attention, they'll pass all these bills all day long and you wouldn't know it. And you may not agree with it but it'll be too late for you to do anything about it.
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But in this case, the new regulations proposed by Farrell haven't gone into effect. So why close down prematurely? Were you already struggling financially?On Motherboard: A History of Guns on Instagram
You know, we were doing OK. We weren't really seeing that much money coming in, and historically, the summer is pretty slow, but the announcement of that idea came out and we started getting calls. Even today we know if we were submitting their information to the police department willingly like that, they would just simply shop somewhere else. A bulk of our clients have two things widely in common: They want to buy a firearm, and they're very private individuals. Some of our clients are authors, and athletes. One gave me a call and said that he wishes us well, but that he wouldn't want to be filmed in store, it would be bad for PR.But you were already filming all the transactions anyway, right?
Well, we have a long list of use conditions in our permit to operate in the city. Part of those conditions are that if a uniformed officer, in this working capacity, ever enters the building, we are to surrender a customer's information, firearm information, what they bought, and any video surveillance. Our surveillance has a minimum of a month to have to be stored, [then] be available to officers or inspectors of the San Francisco police department or agents thereof. So that was all there.
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The constant phone calls. The worst part was that one out of every five [phone conversations] I had was, "Have you contacted the supervisor's office?" And they say no. So I feel like, OK, I'm not working for the Board of Supervisors, doing the explaining, when [supervisor Mark Farrell] should be the one explaining. And then two, business. I wouldn't say it took a nosedive, but it made a significant impact on our cash flow, which we rely on. Because, you know, the margin of the industry, it's pretty bad.How many guns would you sell in a month?
In a month? It would vary anywhere from 20 to 40 a month. But that's not including someone who comes in with a private transaction. So let's say you and I had met on some sort of firearm forum and you agreed to meet me at that shop to look at it, closely examine it, and if you decide you want to purchase it, we would facilitate that transaction.How many of those would there be a month?
Almost an equal amount, 20 to 50.
So you're selling less than 100 guns a month. That doesn't sound great.Click, Print, Gun: The Inside Story of the 3D-Printed Gun Movement
Well, there's also this state law that says you can only buy one handgun a month. Here's the funny part: If you came over to my house for a barbecue and I had like, let's say, five Colts with sequential serial numbers, you'd be like, "Wow! That's awesome! I want to buy all five of those." I can meet you at a licensed dealer and we can do a private transaction for an unlimited number of guns, and you could even go from person to person. So these ordinances are really going to kind of slow down a license holder trying to do the right thing.
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Yeah, totally. And I would say that easily 30 percent are women, and they all tell me the same thing: "It wasn't originally a hobby that I wanted to pick up but I feel like it's an equalizer. My neighbor got his house broken into while he was home, he's a burly man and I'm a 110-pound woman in Mission, so police response times vary." I hear stories like that. "I filed a police report against this man last month. He followed me; he assaulted me and I pepper sprayed him. Then I saw him again a block away from where I get off the bus. Just standing there. I don't know if it was a coincidence but he seemed like he was waiting, so it freaked me out. I thought I should probably get some protection. He could have followed me right to my apartment building and I wouldn't have known." We get that a lot. I got tons of stories like that from people.
You know Code Pink? [Code Pink is an anti-war, anti-gun, social justice, left wing protest group.] About a dozen of them rolled out on us in 2011. They were [outside the store] with a sign saying something like, "ARMS ARE FOR HUGGING; NOT FOR KILLING!" Honestly I don't have a problem with that; they were not disrupting business coming in or out. They were being loud but not to the point where they were being disrespectful to us in any way. Now it did distract some of my staff, but I reminded everybody that they're out there exercising their right to free speech. If you go out there and tell them to move it along or do it somewhere else, we wouldn't be any better than someone telling us that they don't want our business here. I would go to war to protect the right to do what they're doing—quite literally.
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Do you think San Franciscans in general are apathetic to gun rights or anti-gun?Read: I Went to a Smart Gun Symposium and There Were No Guns Allowed
You know, I would tend to think that if you want to embrace San Francisco, if you're a native or if you just moved here, I would say to embrace the idea of live and let live. If you're not imposing on me, then I don't really have a problem with it. I may not agree with it, I may not like it, but I'm not going to step on your toes or discourage you from doing what you feel is right for you. I mean, just in this last week, people were coming to the door, telling us they wished us well, that they live in the immediate area and that while they don't have an interest in firearms, they do support those who want to buy them legally.It sounds like the anti-gun regulations primarily hurt legitimate firearm dealers.
Yeah, for people out there in the street, I mean, you know, what's changed for them? If I go to a dark corner of San Francisco where I meet a guy with all "the goods", and I've got the money, it's just a simple exchange, hoping no one gets killed in the process. The only change is that High Bridge is gone now.So where do San Franciscans go to buy guns now?
I tell people to go to Jackson Arms in South San Francisco, which is technically San Mateo County.Follow Jules Suzdaltsev on Twitter.