Napier councillors to meet Gun City after petition to stop store gets 600 signatures

James Crow presents Maxine Boag with a petition titled "Tell council no Gun City in Napier". Photo / Warren Buckland

Napier's Mayor and its 12 councillors will meet with the new Gun City Napier store's owners, after a petition to have it banned from the city gained 600 signatures.

Councillor Maxine Boag received a petition on Friday, titled "Tell council no Gun City in Napier".

It was started by Ahuriri resident James Crow in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack.

Gun City was granted resource consent in July 2018 to open an 800 square metre mega-store in Napier, which is set to open in early April.

But the company has come under heat in recent weeks after revealing it sold guns to the man who allegedly killed 50 worshippers in two Christchurch mosques.

Boag said she, along with the other councillors and Mayor Bill Dalton note>CRT, would meet the owners of Gun City on Tuesday to discuss the store's signage, advertising and other matters in the aftermath of Christchurch.

"While NCC cannot change central government laws on resource consents, we hope to engage in a positive conversation with Gun City and see what their response is to the concerns of our community.

"I believe they are ready to listen.

"I would like to thank James Crow and the 600-plus people from across the country who petitioned me to say Napier has no need for another gun shop, especially not Gun City."

She said across the country there had been a lot of soul-searching after the terror attack.

"We have been listening to this conversation at council: we have heard the views of our community."

Crow said he knew Gun City would not close its shop in Napier, but he hoped a middle ground could be found.

"Maxine has been very helpful in hearing our concerns and we are now working with her to help find a solution where everyone is happy and also work to change policy's in the future where the public can be notified of a gun store like it is with a liquor store.

"We have had heaps of responses from people about the petition, both good and bad.

"Those who had concerns about it we told them that we weren't anti-gun and explained our concerns regarding the store and how they function and wanting to find a suitable solution for the store and public."