New gun store in Burbank causing uproar with some residents worried about gun violence

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- A new gun store is causing an uproar in Burbank.

Some say it's too close to a school, but a protest Saturday didn't stop a long line of customers from showing up for the grand opening.

Doors opened to the brand new, second location of a store called Gun World.

Across the street, on Magnolia Boulevard and Hollywood Way, dozens of people came out to protest the opening. They say that there are too many gun stores in the city.

"It's really scary knowing I can go to school and someone can go to my school with a gun," said Ada Kennedy who was protesting the new gun store's grand opening.

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Kat Fisher says her daughter is terrified to walk past the gun store to Roosevelt Elementary School nearby.

"For responsible gun owners, if you want a handgun for safety I'm okay with that. I'm not trying to take that right away," Fisher said. "We don't need AR-15s. You're not going to hunt a deer. You're going to destroy the meat. I feel that there's too many gun stores out here."

"There needs to be background checks, we need to have regulations in place," Fisher said. "We need to tax people that are buying these weapons."

Gun World released a statement on Saturday that said, in part:

"We help support and supply law enforcement and security personnel with the equipment they need to perform their duties. We provide the public with a means to protect their family and enjoy shooting sports."

Others who came to support Gun World's opening said that their gun rights are being infringed upon.

"You can't defend yourself in a stressful situation. If my life is threatened, what am I going to do if I don't have a gun?" said Jim Cairns, a California Rifle and Pistol Association member. "And the only reason I have that gun is to protect myself and my family."

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Eyewitness News looked into exactly how many gun stores or gun seller licenses there are per capita in cities in Southern California. According to the federal firearm listings, Burbank has 10 stores, or roughly nine per 100,000 thousand people.

If you really boil it down, areas like Burbank do have a lot of gun stores, but this city is pretty much in the middle when you look at the number of gun seller licenses or stores across the U.S.

For example, places like Billings, Montana has 41 stores, or roughly 35 per 100,000 people.

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"We need more rights. We need to protect those rights. They're taking them away. Just a little here, a little there. And it's just not gonna work out," Cairns said. "The United States is the most well-armed country in the world. And we're that way for our reason, because we like our stuff and we want to keep it."

"Move away from families," Fisher said. "There's kids that play in these neighborhoods and now they don't want to ride their bikes and play, and that's terrifying.