NEWHALL'S OLD GUN SHOP TO PACK IT IN.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer A fixture of the Old West-style downtown Newhall is fading into the sunset. The Old Gun Shop on San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the city and county of Los Angeles. It starts off in Castaic as The Old Road, passing through Santa Clarita and the Newhall Pass, where upon its intersection with Sierra Highway near the junction of the Golden State (I-5) and the will close this weekend, the last of five independent gun stores throughout the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. that died slowly during decades of anti-gun sentiment, said manager Jeff Walk. ``Business is slow,'' Walk said. ``Guns have become politically incorrect politically incorrect adj. Disregarding or unconcerned with political correctness. political incorrectness n. Adj. 1. .'' The shop is owned by Walk's brother, Bob Walk, a former major league pitcher and now a radio and TV commentator for the Pittsburgh Pirates This article is about the baseball team. For the National Hockey League team, see Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL). For the National Football League team (1933–1940), see Pittsburgh Steelers. . Built in the early 1950s, the shop has catered mostly to sportsmen, Jeff Walk said. ``They used to do very well years ago when there were a lot of quail hunters and deer,'' said Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, a longtime advocate for merchants in the sleepy downtown Newhall retail zone. ``It's just another piece of our history,'' Darcy said, hastily adding that she is not an advocate of guns. Once part of a thriving shopping district, the gun shop is among dozens of older businesses that are shuttering as the retail trade moves to newer neighborhoods. But this business is different, Walk said. It's not being hurt by the so-called ``big box'' discount stores that have come into town because gun people want the specialized service that an independent provides. Instead, it's the social turn against firearms and a stack of government regulations that make it tough for a small gun business to keep going. Walk laments the seven licenses and permits he is required to keep - the federal firearms license A Federal Firearms License, or FFL, is a license that enables an individual or a company to engage in a business pertaining to the manufacture of firearms and ammunition or the interstate and intrastate sale of firearms. , the two state sales licenses, a permit to sell guns, a county business license, a permit to carry gunpowder and a license to resell weapons. ``Like I said, guns aren't politically correct politically correct Politically sensitive adjective Referring to language reflecting awareness and sensitivity to another person's physical, mental, cultural, or other disadvantages or deviations from a norm; a person is not mentally retarded, but ,'' he said. ``Every time you see guns on the news, you always see them in a bad light.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Manager Jeff Walk stands among the firearms for sale at the Old Gun Shop in Newhall, which is going out of business this weekend. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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