Parents: No gun shop near school

Gina Lombardi doesn't hate guns.

She just doesn't want them sold near her children's school.

Gun World, which had to close its Bensenville location to make way for O'Hare International Airport expansion, is looking open a gun shop and shooting range in Wood Dale.

However, a group of residents are concerned about Gun World's choice for a location -- a building at 660 Pond Drive, across the street from Wood Dale Junior High School.

"I don't oppose the gun shop being in Wood Dale," said Lombardi, whose two children eventually will attend the school. "But I am not comfortable with the location they have chosen."

Lombardi, president of the PTO at Westview Elementary School in Wood Dale, said many parents are upset about the plans, largely because of the proposed gun shop's close proximity to the junior high school.

City council members are expected to discuss the proposal during their April 10 meeting. A final vote is slated to happen a week later.

Mayor Ken Johnson said he won't comment until he hears next month's presentation and has all the facts.

If approved, Gun World would be the second gun shop in Wood Dale. Thin Blue Line Inc., 362 Georgetown Square, is a police equipment retailer that also sells guns but doesn't have a shooting range.

Marshall Subach, an attorney representing Gun World, said plans call for the shop to have a virtual gun range used for tactical police training.

Gun World has been in business for more than 30 years, and its customers are mostly sportsmen and police personnel, Subach said.

"My client understands the concerns of the parents," Subach said. "But I think when they hear the testimony … Hopefully, it will ease many of the concerns. I think a lot of concerns arise out of misinformation and not having the entire picture."

Still, Wood Dale resident Kathy Martinez said she remains strongly opposed to the proposal.

"I just don't like guns," Martinez said. "I know the city needs businesses. However, this is the wrong business. Let them go somewhere else."

Nationally, firearm sales are a lucrative business that appears to be growing.

According to the Professional Gun Retailers Association, roughly 9.8 million guns were legally sold in 2006. Last year, that number increased to about 11.1 million.