After 57 years perched on Spring Garden Street, James Colosimo should have a lot to be proud of. His store, Colosimo’s Gun Store, has weathered lots of ups and downs on the street over the years (actually, mostly downs), and when he closes the store’s doors for the last time ever on Wednesday, it won’t be with the usual sense of accomplishment that comes with the end of a valiant (and long) run by a neighborhood small business owner. At least, it won’t be for the untold numbers of Philadelphians Colosimo so casually endangered over the years. Instead, it’ll be a sigh of relief, asColosimo pled guilty this morning to charges of allowing straw purchases at his store. As part of his plea agreement, Colosimo’s license to sell guns has been revoked and he’s selling the rest of his stock off to other dealers. (Weapons dealers, we believe. With licenses. And last names.) And yeah, Colosimo is an old man and a small business owner and a member of The Greatest Generation, yadda yadda yadda. But seriously? Fuck that noise. The guy sold guns to people whom, he could fairly assume, would not use them for hunting or hobbies. And while it sucks to see any small business go under (especially such a longstanding one), we won’t cry when Colosimo’s closes down this week. In fact, we’ll all feel pretty good about it.

[Photo credit: Temple's Philadelphia Neighborhoods blog, where Colosimo once actually used the "Guns don’t kill people, people kill people" trope, neglecting the cliché's natural rejoinder: And people are fucking stupid.]

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 3:58 pm.