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StarTrib Article <br />From: "Bob Kirmis" <bkirmis @nacplanning.com> <br />To: <sgrittman @nacplanning.com> <br />Subject: <br />Date: Thursday, July 22, 2004 2:14 PM <br />Message <br />Gun Dealer Sues for Site in City: Businessman Mark Koscielsk <br />i is Suing Minneapolis, Saying it's Trying to Zone Gun Shops Out of Exis <br />tence <br />by Steve Brandt; Staff Writer <br />Star - Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); Metro; News; 1B <br />Category: News Center <br />July 24, 2003 <br />Mark Koscielski says he knows south Minneapolis as only a <br />lifelong resident can. But now he knows the rest of Minneapolis <br />with far more intimacy than he'd like. <br />He and his business partner, Barbara Bergstrom, have driven <br />the city twice, armed with $1,400 in customized zoning maps. <br />They've spent up to a week at a time searching for a spot where <br />they can operate a gun shop legally. <br />They say they've found no feasible site, and on Wednesday <br />they sued the city, charging that it is illegally and <br />unconstitutionally trying to zone gun shops out of existence. <br />The city attorney's office had no immediate comment. But <br />when the City Council adopted current gun shop zoning <br />restrictions in 1995, officials argued that gun dealers were a <br />threat to the residential character of neighborhoods. <br />Koscielski initially avoided the 1995 restrictions by going <br />to court that year, when he was operating a gun shop at 812 E. <br />48th St. A federal judge issued an injunction that barred the <br />city from closing the shop after Koscielski argued that he'd <br />started the business before the new restrictions were enacted. <br />But he lost his lease on that space earlier this year, and <br />opened the new Koscielski's Guns and Ammo at 2926 Chicago Av. S. <br />on July 3. He doesn't sell guns there - knowing that the site <br />was too close to housing to pass zoning muster, he let his <br />federal firearms license expire. But he does offer gun <br />accessories, repairs and classes for people who want to make use <br />of the state's new gun permit law. He also sells ammunition. <br />But the city has ordered him to stop selling ammo because <br />doing so is enough to define him as a firearms dealer under the <br />zoning code. And the code wouldn't allow a gun shop at that <br />location. <br />"The city's zoning scheme basically prevents him from <br />finding a place to do business," said Joseph Rymanowski Jr., the <br />Page 1 <br />