Santa Barbara County Looks to Strengthen Rules Preventing Certain Sites for Gun Stores

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) - A controversial relocation of a gun store in Goleta has the county looking at strengthening its rules on the location sites for this type of business.

Goodland Guns moved from Old Town Goleta to a new location at 7443 Hollister Avenue next to the Here We Grow Early Learning Center.

During the renovation, the neighbors raised issues about the location near a school and the safety of children.

It was called an unacceptable space. This has caught the attention of the Goleta City Council and the Goleta Unified School District.

Goodland Guns CEO Daniel Ashton has said he has made improvements to what was a vacant 7-Eleven that was a location for frequent, "trespassing, drug use, vandalism, and defecation right beside the preschool property line."

Since taking over, Goodland has installed security fencing and says the area is safer.

The business has also been described as a sporting goods store.

Santa Barbara County Supervisors Laura Capps and Joan Hartmann are bringing this to the attention of the Board of Supervisors to see if any changes can be made to the current policies.

They are asking for a retail buffer zone for protect schools and an Interim Urgency Ordinance.

Tuesday afternoon the issue was discussed with the board moving forward on an analysis of what it could do to add new distance rules for these types of businesses.

The Goodland Guns site is in the city of Goleta and the council there took up the matter Tuesday night at its meeting.

The county was concerned in the unincorporated areas including portions of the Santa Ynnez Valley, Orcutt and between Santa Barbara and Patterson Ave.outside of Goleta, where a similar business could seek a business permit.

The county currently has some restrictions on where cannabis operators can open a storefront.