Posted on 10/21/2009 10:16:44 AM PDT by Constitution Day
Gun store posters take flak
By Geoffrey Cooper - Rocky Mount Telegram
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
NASHVILLE — For more than a week, a local gun shop owner has been under scrutiny regarding certain advertisements outside his front door.
Nashville Guns owner Dennis Nielsen has been met with the watchful eyes of a few county officials and town residents for the storefront posters of women holding guns. Facing two documented complaints, Nielsen maintains that he has done nothing wrong and runs a clean business.
Facing the Washington Street sidewalks are two posters inside of Nielsen’s gun shop windows. The first poster shows a model with blond-streaked hair in a black dress holding an AR-15 rifle, with the second picture of the same model holding a .357 magnum pistol. Inside his shop, similar posters are attached to the walls, showing the same model holding different weapons.
“It would be one thing if there were 100 resident complaints, but that isn’t the case,” Nielsen said. “But still, that’s enough for the county to have a gross overreaction. It’s uncalled for personally.”
This is not the first time Nielsen has disagreed with the county. He filed a lawsuit against the county in 2005 because copy costs the county was charging for public records did not comply with state law. The county settled the suit out of court.
Nielsen began a lease agreement with Nash County in August to rent the property until September 2010. He opened the gun shop on Washington Street in mid-September.
While the store features other male-oriented themes, Nielsen said the overall design concept, including the posters, was devised by his wife and two daughters. He said the posters were not meant to disrupt personal beliefs, but to attract customers.
“When you have to sell a Corvette, do you think they are going to use a 50-year-old guy?” Nielsen asked. “I want to be sure I’m not insensitive to family values, but I got a business to run. I’m open to criticism if residents have it.”
Since the complaints started, Nielsen said he has sought opinions from other merchants. When asked about the tastefulness of Nielsen’s posters, many downtown merchants said either they were oblivious to them or did not have an opinion.
Nielsen said he began to hear the first batch of poster complaints on Oct. 9 from a Nashville resident, who first visited town officials to discuss the posters’ content. But town officials verified Nielsen was in compliance with all zoning and sign ordinance laws and requirements for Nashville.
Later that day, Nielsen said the resident contacted Nash County Manager Bob Murphy to express her discomfort with the advertisement. Within a few minutes of the complaint, Nielsen said Murphy and Assistant County Manager Wayne Moore appeared at his shop, asking him to cooperate and remove the posters – but Nielson refused.
Murphy told Nielsen a resident was bothered by the idea of a woman brandishing a gun.
In a phone interview, Murphy said he reminded Nielsen during their conversation that he rents from the county and did not want his actions to become a nuisance to the public. He also said Nielsen’s decision will not affect his chances of a lease renewal.
Another Nashville resident said she feels Nielsen’s business does not belong downtown because it does not coincide with the town’s renovation efforts and would taint its overall image.
“I don’t believe it’s appropriate, and it’s not an image that downtown Nashville should be portraying,” said Dawn White, a Nashville resident.
In an Oct. 12 email sent to Commissioner Danny Tyson, White stated her main concern was that the gun store is located across from a domestic violence shelter. She further stated that “... the gun shop and the bar in the downtown area are black eyes for the quaintness of the downtown area,” and that it should not belong downtown, regardless if the posters are up or not.
“Sure, the right to bear arms is an individual choice,” White said. “But that’s not a choice I’m willing to agree with.”
Nash County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robbie Davis said he was contacted about the situation during the weekend of Murphy’s visit. Eventually, Davis said, no provisions could be found in Nielsen’s lease that could prevent him from placing that type of advertisement up – and that the county is dropping the matter altogether.
“It’s strictly a request, and that’s as far as we are going to take it,” Davis said.
After looking at the posters, Davis said he was not personally offended but could understand why some residents would be put off by it.
“Anytime (commissioners) get a complaint of any kind, we want to see if there is any truth to it,” Davis said. “But there’s nothing more we will do at this point in time.”
This is all the result of a small handful of busybody complainers, one of whom states:
"Sure, the right to bear arms is an individual choice, but that’s not a choice I’m willing to agree with.”
NC ping, please?
See there's the problem right there.
LOL. I hear you, but this is a small town. I don’t see what the complainers are getting worked up over.
i would LOVE to post some of the store posters that i see everyday walking through my neighborhood on the upper west side of manhattan. borders on porn.
Bang!
Dawn White, probably a UNC commie.
=====LOL. I hear you, but this is a small town. I don’t see what the complainers are getting worked up over.=====
Probably another BUTT ugly liberal fascist that is complaining....
Well, isn't that just too bad. Who cares if you disgree. Don't buy a gun then. Nobody is making you.
Yep... busybody betch
“a resident was bothered by the idea of a woman brandishing a gun”
That resident better get used to women brandishing guns...
Open threat, despite what the lousy bureaucrat says.
But do they have all their teeth?
I’ll bet the Swedish Bikini team would cause a massive heart attack.
I did some Googling and found that there is a Nash-Rocky Mount Schools social worker by the same name. Wonder if this is her? (third from left at the link below)
It figures that a social worker would be a screaming liberal...
http://www.nrms.k12.nc.us/news/archive/2009Q1/mar_2_social_worker_week.asp
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
This is offensive to liberals, but the rape of little girls isn’t. They want Roman Polanski to be free to rape little girls without fear of some “overprotective” Mommy with a gun. They want a graphic depiction, by Maya Angelou, of an eight year old girl being raped, to be offered up to children in our public libraries, but they don’t want Fox News to be allowed to report on the public actions of the president.
Liberalism is a mental disease.
“Another Nashville resident said she “feels” Nielsen’s business does not belong downtown because it does not coincide with the town’s renovation efforts and would taint its overall image.”
It’s all about the feeeeeelllings.
To people like that, there would be NO acceptable place for a gun shop.
too bad. so sad.
“Sure, the right to bear arms is an individual choice,” White said. “But that’s not a choice I’m willing to agree with.”
If you put it to her in terms slightly different she’d call
you a fanatic.
“Sure, the decision for abortion is an individual choice,” White said. “But that’s not a choice I’m willing to agree with.”
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