Hello NES community,
Forgive the late reply, the shop is normally closed today and a friend of mine sent me a text about this thread.
Many of the posts with this thread could not be further wrong from our actual interview with the reporter. There were several things listed in these pages from people that were taken upside down, backwards and haywire.
First off we love guns, we would not have spent the time, money and effort to open a gun shop in Massachusetts if we didn't think we could be trying to help gun owners. As an NRA instructor my stance is that safety with firearms is crucial. The last thing we need for people who don't like firearms is a reason to point and tell us responsible owners that we shouldn't own guns because of carelessness. There are plenty of news articles and YouTube videos as examples. I understand that anyone who wants an LTC must have a safety course, so therefore if you own a business "why wouldn't you offer a class."
The quote about "Massachusetts doing things right" was in reference to the Mircs system and background checks. Living in Rhode Island and having to wait 7 days to get a firearm after running my NICS is batty. It would be very convenient to have RI do a check so we could get our firearms same day like Massachusetts. I do NOT like the idea of having the Massachusetts gun registry so the state knows what I have. People made it sound like we were making new laws or regulations to curb firearms.
The quote regarding "not having to sell a gun and making a difference in someone's life is a victory" is about our charity and contributions to the community and church. I still cannot understand why people who have never met myself, the owner or have even stepped foot into my shop dislike us or our business because we're Christians. Not once in any conversation with the people or customers have we been judging, snobby, snooty, or using some "holy than though" statement or actions. We have never "pushed or crammed" our views upon anyone regardless of their religious or non-religious views.
We have always been supportive of gun right for all Americans. I did not write the gun laws, neither did anyone else in our shop. We have always and will continue to have an open door policy at Ephesian Arms. We believe in accountability, considering that I have met lots of NES Members who have come into the shop to just say hi and who have taken some time to chat with us to learn what we're about. I'm hopefully thinking that since this is the reply to this post that we would get a fair and honest evaluation from our stance. If anyone here, or any gun owner as any questions or comments regarding our practices please contact me at our shop during normal hours or send me a message her at NES.
thank you all for your time, looking forward to seeing you sometime soon.
Godspeed,
Michael