05-23-11 Council Agenda & Packet

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Plan of Operation Proposed Sale of Firearms Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, 700 West Ireland Road, South Bend Introduction Wal-Mart Stores East, LP ("Wal-Mart") operates a Wal-Mart Supercenter on approximately 23 acres located at what is commonly addressed as 700 West Ireland Road, South Bend (the"Store"). The Store contains over 200,000 square feet of gross floor area, and sells a variety of hard and soft goods. One category of goods currently sold at the Store is sporting goods. Within this category, WaI-Mart sells a variety of goods related to camping, hunting and fishing. Wal-Mart desires to add an assortment of rifles and shotguns to this category of sporting goods available for sale at the Store. Wal-Mart is or will be selling similar goods in a number of stores in Indiana, as shown on Exhibit "A". The South Bend Zoning Ordinance requires that a special exception be obtained in order for a retail store to sell firearms. After discussing the proposal with two City Councilors, Wal-Mart has put together this "plan of operation", which shall be considered as a portion of its Special Exception Petition, in order to provide transparency as to its intentions and certainty in its operation with respect to the sale of firearms. Assortment/Location Wal-Mart shall limit sales of firearms to rifles and shotguns intended solely for hunting and target shooting. There shall be no sales of handguns or tactical guns at the Store. All firearms and ammunition shall be sold in the sporting goods department, and shall be kept in locked/secure display cases, with the exception of some shotgun shells that are typically used for clay target shooting. The initial location of such items is shown on the "plan o gram" attached hereto as Exhibit "B". Operations Wal-Mart has several policies to insure the safe sale of firearms. First, all persons desiring to purchase a firearm are subject to a background check, unless a specific state statute allows for an exemption for those individuals who carry a valid local concealed weapon permit, an "official duty" -purchase or if an individual carries a valid federal firearm: license. Only when the background check agency provides a "proceed" response may the sale take place. All sales will take place at the sporting goods counter (See Exhibit "B"), and a member of store management must escort the customer from the Store to the customer's vehicle.