Much-criticized gun shop will close

[Kodiak]

Philadelphia gun-store owner James Colosimo plans to close his decades-old shop, which has been targeted recently with antiviolence protests and federal inquiries into its business practices.

Since protests this year, the Buruea of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has filed a notice to revoke Colosimo's federal license to sell firearms, said Colosimo's attorney, Joe Canuso.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office accused the store of selling 10 guns to people employees "knew or had reason to believe" were illegal straw buyers.

Canuso said yesterday that his client would not contest the effort to revoke his license. He said Colosimo was mulling whether to fight the criminal charge, which was filed against his corporation and carries maximum penalties of five years' probation and a $200,000 fine.

Colosimo waived his right to a grand-jury hearing, and the charge was filed in a criminal information, which often means a defendant plans to plead guilty.

"Mr. Colosimo just wants to get things resolved so he can move on with his life, so to speak," Canuso said.

By the time Colosimo makes his first appearance in court, he should have a date for closing his store, Canuso said.

"There will be something soon," he said.

Bryan Miller, from the interfaith, anti-gun-violence group Heeding God's Call, said data had shown for decades that Colosimo's, at 10th and Spring Garden Streets, had sold a "disproportionate number" of guns used in crimes.

"Every bad guy in Philly knew where to go to get a gun," he said. "Gun traffickers in the region will be mourning the closing of Colosimo's, but law-abiding citizens should rejoice."

Twelve members of Heeding God's Call were arrested in January after two days of protests inside and outside Colosimo's shop. All 12 were acquitted of a series of misdemeanors.

The protesters targeted the store after Colosimo refused to sign a voluntary "code of conduct" to cut down on gun sales to criminals. Colosimo argued that he already participated in nine of the 10 measures outlined in the code.

Colosimo acknowledged at the time that a significant number of guns sold in his store were used in crimes, but he attributed that to the high volume of his business.

Despite the criminal charge, Canuso said, Colosimo's never knowingly sold to a straw purchaser - a person who buys a gun for someone barred from owning a firearm, usually because of a criminal conviction.

"I can say that without fear of contradiction," he said.

Canuso said the criminal charge originated merely because of bad record-keeping.

"He's been in business for a long time and had a lot of inventory go through there, and he apparently had some discrepancies," he said.

The criminal information says Colosimo's sold 10 guns to three different straw buyers between 2004 and 2007. The court papers do not say how authorities determined that the guns were bought illegally, and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment yesterday.

Canuso said those guns had not been used in crimes.

"I have never heard anything like that," he said. "If they had a direct connection between a gun used in a crime and Colosimo's, you would have heard about it."

Colosimo's has been in business for "at least 40 years," Canuso said.

"His best customers have been mostly police officers," he said. "He's sold police guns and equipment for as long as I've been around."

Canuso said his client didn't harbor any ill will toward the protesters who singled out his store.

"While he didn't necessarily enjoy having them outside his shop . . . he understands what their reasoning is," he said. "He feels he didn't do anything illegal."

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Makes me want to open a shop now.

[Al-Mumit]

Sorry to say not a great loss for Philly shooters. Nobody I know has made a purchase there thanks in part to the stupendously high prices. The northeast has a handful of shops with more reasonable prices and zero protesters.

[GunLawyer001]

"Bryan Miller, from the interfaith, anti-gun-violence group Heeding God's Call"

Um, sure. Say, isn't he also "Bryan Miller, Executive Director of Ceasefire, NJ", the anti-gun group that shamelessly decided to mask its activities as "religious"?

Also "Bryan Miller, whose brother was a law enforcement agent who was killed while armed, sitting in a police station, surrounded by armed cops who could do nothing to stop the killer, and who now wants us to give up our guns and rely on cops sitting in cars miles away to defend us"?

That lying sack of self-righteousness Miller? Same dipshit?

Deception is always Plan A for the anti-gun zealots, because they've discovered that the truth is not their friend. Nor is logic an ally of their cause, so they always pack their whiny emotional campaigns around corpses, preferably young corpses, because soccer moms will buy into any bullshit if it includes the phrase "for our children".

[Legion_Prime]

Hmm, maybe this means he'll finally take Hershey's offer.

[GTI19403]

Well maybe there will be some deals if he has a going out of business sale

[Arcana71]

Well maybe there will be some deals if he has a going out of business sale

Or maybe everything in his shop just became an "investment-grade future collectible."

[Al-Mumit]

Well maybe there will be some deals if he has a going out of business sale

Good point, anyone know when he's closing down? I'll stop by & relay any deals I don't take myself to you nice folks :P

[God's Country]

Welcome to the beginning of the end of freedom for Pa.

[1blindref]

I've never been in the shop, but I bought an older S&W M29-2 earlier this year and had it lettered. The letter came back that it was sold to Colosimo's in May of 1966. I thought that was pretty cool.

(sorry for the thread drift)

[GTI19403]

Good point, anyone know when he's closing down? I'll stop by & relay any deals I don't take myself to you nice folks :P

that was kind of a joke. his prices were soo outrageous to start with that his sale prices will probably be more than other stores retail