A new training center and gun shop is opening in Lawrence, Massachusetts, but with its location just steps away from a charter school and a child care center, it’s causing controversy.
The New England Training Center is slated to open on Ballard Way. He says he understands parents’ concerns, and is taking safety measures seriously. But some parents say it’s just hundreds of feet away from two schools, and that’s not enough.
Hearing gunshots in the distance has become the norm for students and teachers on Ballard Way, near the Lawrence-Andover line.
“We tell the children it’s fireworks or balloons that are popping, or anything we can make up that makes it fun for them,” Nathalys Ramirez, who is both a teacher and the parent of a student at Little Sprouts Child Care, said.
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While the private gun range causing the noise is a safe distance from these schools, she says the new retail gun store is not.
“Beyond upset about it. I’m a mother here as well as a teacher.”
The Lawrence Zoning Board of Appeals gave the approval for the shop at 5 Ballard Way, just a few hundred feet away from the Community Day Charter public school and the child care center.
The mayor said he respects the law but understands his community’s concerns, adding that the city council will be looking into the approval process.
“I don’t think I feel safe with my child and any other child around here being around a gun shop. Even if there are restrictions, we still have a risk.”
The Zoning Board did set safety measures for the shop, including that customers can go into the store during the day but can only pick up merchandise after 6 p.m., when schools are out.
But Kate Canella, executive director of Little Sprouts, says that’s not enough.
“Just the fact that you have a sentence that says we’re going to pick our weapons up after schools have closed, those don’t go together. Schools and guns don’t go together.”
The owner of the business said the reason they were able to open at the location is because the city considers it an industrial zone, not a school zone.
Some municipalities in the state, like Andover and Newton, have ordinances that prevent firearm businesses from opening in close proximity to schools. No one at Lawrence City Hall was able to confirm if the city has one as of this writing.
Both the charter school and child care center have started an online petition to oppose the business opening.
