Two Fresno-area gun stores have shut down after years in business.
The owners of both businesses blamed strict California gun laws and high taxes as the primary reason for closing.
They said there was little to no money to be made as a gun store owner, citing newer California laws that they said increased owner expenses and turned off customers from buying as much guns and ammunition as before.
That’s all on top of increases in rent and energy bills along with workers’ compensation and insurance — inflation factors that all types of businesses deal with, especially those in California.
So after 16 years, PRK Arms in Fresno shut its doors for good.
So did South Gate Firearm Supply in the Coarsegold area after five years.
Both closed at the end of August.
“It hurts,” said Ryan Farrell, owner of South Gate Firearm Supply. “I wish we could stay open. But it’s just not there.”
Farrell estimated 5% of the reason he was closing was the typical stress of owning a shop and “95% because of these regulations.”
New 11% tax on guns, ammo in California
On July 1, Assembly Bill 28 went into effect, requiring customers, manufacturers, vendors and dealers to pay an 11% tax on firearms and ammunition.
The purpose of the 11% tax — also known as the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act — was to fund violence prevention efforts.
But from the perspective of the two former gun store owners, they believe the 11% tax was the “nail in the coffin.”
The owner of PRK Arms confirmed his gun shop’s closing but declined an on-the-record interview. The PRK owner did express many similar views as Farrell, the South Gate Firearm Supply owner.
The PRK owner called the struggles of owning a gun store “a perfect storm” that’s caused damage due to the economy, higher gun taxes and limitation to the number of guns a customer could buy during the majority of this year.
The South Gate Firearm Supply owner, meanwhile, said sales dropped by 50% in July, signaling to him that he could not endure staying open beyond his lease.
“Just isn’t sustainable,” Farrell said.
The PRK Arms owner added that his store could not survive solely on selling weapon accessories; the 11% tax is not applied to accessories like a holster or scope.
One-gun-in-a-month law reversed for now
At the start of 2024, a California law took effect that limited residents to the purchase of one firearm of any kind within 30 days.
The law was later overturned in mid-August.
But gun store owners said that 7 1/2-month stretch in which customers were limited in how many guns they could buy caused too much damage for their business to overcome.
The intention of the one-gun-per-month law, the state said, was to address “unprecedented social concerns,” such as gun trafficking and straw purchases, which is when someone legally buys a gun, then gives it to someone else who is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
By mid-August, a three-justice panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the California one-gun-in-a-month law.
So at least for the time being, California residents can purchase firearms as frequently as they want.
“I understand that the (Department of Justice) is trying to address public safety,” Farrell said. “They want the citizens of California to be safe, and they feel like firearms are contributing to making society unsafe. But I don’t think that’s right.
“It’s in our culture,” Farrell added, regarding gun enthusiasts buying multiple guns. “They buy guns for investments and buy guns for collections. If you’re a sporting clays shooter, you don’t have one gun for sporting clays. You probably have 20, 30 different guns.
“To limit it to 12 guns a year, that’s not in our culture,” Farrell said. “It affected us. There definitely had been people who wanted to buy more than one gun and I turned them away because they bought a gun like 20 days ago.”
The gun restriction fight remains ongoing with a federal appeals court now considering the constitutionality on that California law that limited residents to one gun purchase every 30 days.
Surveillance law
Another law that went into effect in 2024 that didn’t directly impact customers but gun store owners have had to deal with was California senate bill 1384.
The bill, which was signed in September 2022, created new requirements for licensed firearms dealers to maintain digital video and audio surveillance systems on their premises.
The surveillance systems required digital records of all entries and exits to a building, all areas where firearms are displayed, and all points of sale.
And the surveillance, which must be sufficient to identify all parties involved in any firearm transactions, must record for 24 hours per day and have video time stamps.
In addition, the surveillance footage recordings must be stored for at least one year.
That created another expense for store owners.
“The storage requirements are massive,” Farrell said. “It wasn’t the camera cost; it was the data recorder/data storage cost that really kicked in.
“The DOJ could’ve done something simple like motion-activated only. … Start recording when something’s moving in the area. That’d cut (expenses) at least by half. I mean we also have an alarm system. So if someone breaks in, it’s going to set off a motion-detection system. To record while no one is in here, I don’t know what the purpose is for that.”
Future of gun stores
With California’s firearms regulations driving smaller gun store owners out of business, some in the local gun community are concerned additional mom-and-pop gun stores will close.
They theorize only big box retail stores such as Wal Mart and Sportman’s Warehouse will remain as places to buy guns and ammo in California.
“Hell of a loss for our community,” said Delbert Greer, a longtime gun enthusiast and resident of Prather. “They already don’t have many gun shops nearby.
“When you lose these small gun shops — a place where the people look you in the eye, know what they’re talking about, actually caters to the people — that’s not good.”
The gun store owners of PRK Arms and South Gate Firearm Supply think the only smaller gun stores that’ll remain in California are those that offer a service or product beyond selling guns and ammo — like security service.
Or in the case of big box stores that sell guns, other types of merchandise like sporting equipment to help make up for possible stagnant sales guns.
“The big companies, they sell guns,” Greer said. “But they don’t have half the stuff someone like me is looking for because guns aren’t what they focus on. They sell bulk; they sell a lot of things like camping gear and coolers. I’m not looking for that.
“These mom and pop gun shops like South Gate Firearm, we’re going to miss them.”
