11-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Bloomberg's Antigun Nonprofit Targets a Mom-and-Pop Store
United Gun Shop in Rockville, Md., is a family affair. Jonathan and Christina Bennett own it, and their children help run the business. Mr. Bennett started the shop after retiring from a decorated 20-year police career in nearby Gaithersburg, and he runs a bustling side business teaching gun safety. United Gun Shop has a great reputation in the community and stellar ratings on Google. Its customers are a diverse cross-section of the Washington metropolitan area. Many law-enforcement officers, and at least a few former federal prosecutors like me, have bought guns there.
United Gun Shop meticulously complies with federal and state firearms laws, the latter of which are especially convoluted. Federal law requires all handgun buyers to be vetted through the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the state point of contact for which is the Maryland State Police. Federal law requires a dealer who sells two or more handguns at a time to a single customer to notify both the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maryland State Police. Maryland law adds an additional layer of requirements. All handgun buyers must obtain a 'handgun qualification license,' which requires a four-hour course in firearms safety and law and an application to the state police, which has 30 days to complete a background check and approve or disapprove the application.
