A gun store in Harrison, which has drawn the attention of thousands of residents since it opened in November, now also has the attention of two Westchester County lawmakers.
Legislators Catherine Parker, a Rye Democrat, and Ben Boykin, a White Plains Democrat, whose districts each entail a portion of Harrison, wrote a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF, in December requesting an audit of the license to sell firearms issued to Leesie & Lou Lou Inc., a corporation owned by Louis Zacchio, who owns the gun store on Halstead Avenue, L&L Sports.
“We just asked them to make sure that they were looking at the application and making sure that everything was done properly,” Parker told the Review.
The letter was sent to the ATF on Dec. 12, 2016. Boykin and Parker said they had not yet received a response from the agency as of press time.
Some Harrison residents are likely to rejoice over news that county representatives have involved themselves in the saga. Those same residents have protested to the Harrison Town Council the location of L&L Sports since it announced it would be opening in November. Much of their concern is due to the shop’s proximity to an elementary school 500 feet away. As of press time, an online petition has garnered almost 3,500 signatures decrying the store’s location.
In the letter from county lawmakers, specific questions and concerns related to Zacchio’s license to sell firearms were raised, and whether some of his practices invalidate that license. The legislators referenced a license administered to Leesie & Lou Lou Inc., listing the premise of license as Zacchio’s home address on Orchard Place. The letter asks if Zacchio’s license had since been modified to allow him to operate at the Halstead Avenue storefront.
The Review has submitted a Freedom of Information Law, FOIL, request to the ATF seeking a copy of Zacchio’s license to sell firearms; that request has not been fulfilled as of press time.
Boykin and Parker have also questioned Zacchio’s compliance with a local law in Harrison which requires those who sell used goods—including guns—to obtain a permit to do so from the town.
According to a response to a FOIL request submitted by the Review, the Harrison town clerk’s office has not issued any licenses to deal secondhand articles, nor had it received any applications for secondhand dealer licenses in 2016. Although he had not been licensed to deal used articles, Zacchio had listed on the store’s Facebook page that it sold used firearms. That claim has since been removed from the page.
However, Zacchio’s lack of a license could be due partially to a lack of specificity in the town’s secondhand dealers law, which the town is attempting to amend.
Earlier this month, the town scheduled a public hearing to amend the secondhand dealers law created in 1986. In its current form, the law requires sellers of used goods to obtain a license, but does not specify a means of doing so. According to Jackie Greer, the town clerk, no such licenses have been issued. The current law does not specify who would issue a license, but the amendment would make it the town clerk’s responsibility.
The proposed amendment would add a detailed application and issuance process which had not previously existed, and set all secondhand dealers’ licenses to expire at the end of the year in which they would be obtained. If the amendment is approved, second hand dealers’ licenses would have to be renewed annually, meaning if Zacchio were to be issued a license in 2017, he would have to apply for renewal in 2018.
The lawmakers have also raised questions related to a zoning law, piggybacking on a formal appeal submitted by a Harrison resident on Dec. 2. Frank Acocella, who owns a house close to the storefront, has lodged a complaint with the town Zoning Board of Appeals asking it to nullify the certificate of occupancy and business permit issued to L&L Sports, claiming that Zacchio did not properly notify the property owners within 1,000 feet, as is required by Harrison’s zoning code. The zoning board is expected to discuss the issue at its Feb. 9 meeting.
Harrison Mayor Ron Belmont, a Republican, confirmed that he had received a copy of the county lawmakers’ letter, but declined to comment on it. Zacchio also declined to comment.
Frank Allegretti and Jonathan Kraut, attorneys for the town, could not be reached for comment as of press time.
