PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — Some Paulding County neighbors are upset and concerned that a new pawn shop will be selling weapons close to neighborhoods and children.
Neighbors signed petitions and went to two different meetings, including one Tuesday afternoon, to keep the vacant building from turning into a pawn shop.
The county approved it anyway and now some say their neighborhood will be negatively affected by it.
“We're just saying please don’t put it so close to our neighborhood and so close to the schools where our kids go,” said Hayle Kimberly, who has lived in the Powder Mill subdivision for seven years. %
%
Kimberly was one of 120 people who signed a petition last month to try to keep the pawn shop from opening on Charles Hardy Parkway.
“I’ve got two small kids and I’m totally pro Second Amendment but it makes me nervous. What if those are stolen?” Kimberly said.
The owner of Paulding County Pawn ‘N Shop says that’s a very stereotypical reaction. Jay Wallace has been in the pawn business for 40 years and says he works to keep stolen goods out of his store.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Grandfather of suspect in Roswell killings: 'Our hearts are broken'
- Man who confessed to murder gets lesser charge because of police mistake
- Woman, cats rescued from home full of urine and feces
“Everything a pawnbroker takes in now is run through NCIC and also a state database,” Wallace said.
Wallace says he’s confident criminals won’t be coming in.
“Bad guys have realized that pawn shops turn everything in so it'd be like a rat walking into a rat trap intentionally,” he said.
Wallace says neighbors can expect his store to be up and running within the next two months.
Cox Media Group
