LUSBY, Md. — Calvert County’s Board of Appeals approved a special exception for a Class A home occupation to operate a Federal Firearms License in a residential district to applicant Rene L. Ward. This special exception will allow Ward to sell firearms out of his home in Lusby.
Ward has a Maryland firearm license and a Federal Firearms License. The special exception was required due to current county zoning rules.
Ward, who is also a contractor, said that he is a broker who operates mainly online and facilitates sales for friends and family. He said most of the firearms never see his home, but “some of them do.” He added that firearm sales from his home would be strictly to people he knows.
“I’m not a gun store or a gun shop. I’m not creating hundreds of cars on the road,” Ward said. He added that he planned to sell only to people he knew personally and does not advertise his sales.
Ward said later in the hearing that he doesn’t do enough business to operate out of a commercial space.
On his application for the special exception, Ward wrote that he expected to facilitate one to six sales a month from his home by appointment only and is only at the location eight to nine months out of the year.
Board of Appeals members asked Ward questions about the security of the firearms when they’re on the premises, including how he plans to secure the guns in a safe and secure the garage where the safe is kept. Ward said he will have limited merchandise onsite for no more than 10 days at a time, depending on the type of firearm and the regulation on it.
The board received 15 letters of concern or opposition from Ward’s neighbors in Lusby, citing safety and security concerns from increased traffic and strangers coming to the area, and inconsistent regulations and inspections that make them uneasy about having a firearms business operating from Ward’s home.
In their letters and in testimony at the meetings, neighbors on Ward’s street and nearby streets expressed concerns about the number of purchasers who may arrive unannounced. One caller into the meeting, Brad Leeman, said that addresses of federally licensed dealers are published through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and asked Ward how he planned to handle customers who may find his address and show up without an appointment.
Ward said he would turn these customers away and that there would be “nothing for them to see.”
Several other community members asked Ward about security or how adding a firearms business would enhance their community — arguing that because it only benefitted Ward, it wasn’t eligible for a special exception under the criteria listed by the county.
The Board of Appeals members voted to approve the special exception, claiming that it addressed the concerns — one of which is that it must not “have a negative effect on the enjoyment of adjacent properties” and that it must “not negatively affect the comprehensive plan,” among other criteria.
Board members argued that they approved similar exemptions and did not see negative impacts to adjacent properties. Gerald Clark claimed that one such business operated near his home and he has never seen any issue in traffic or unwanted customers in the neighborhood.
“Most people don’t even know it’s there,” he said.
The Board of Appeals approved the special exception with several conditions, including that there will be no more than six customers a month, Ward will sign for all deliveries, will not sell ammunition with firearms and cannot pass the special exception on to anyone else.
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He shouldn’t need an exemption in the first place.