KITTERY (WGME) — Dueling protests in Kittery Saturday, one group urging Kittery Trading Post to stop selling high-capacity weapons while another says the businesses is doing no harm.
The protests took place in front of the sporting good store with people promoting boycotting the business and passing out flyers that read “Assault weapons don’t belong in our neighborhood.”
“You don’t need a gun that shoots 50 shots at a deer,” New Hampshire Sate Representative Peter Somssich said. “We can do better, kids are dying. When we went to school we didn’t have this problem.”
Activists against guns say they’ve long supported Kittery Trading Post but feel the business should join major retailers like Dicks Sporting Good, L.L. Bean and Walmart in removing assault-style weapons.
“They were completely unresponsive when we asked them about taking guns off their shelves so we’ve been boycotting since the Parkland shooting,” organizer Carol Selsberg said.
However, pro-gun groups has a protest of their own and believe the local business doesn’t sell high capacity weapons. They said certain hunting rifles have different mechanics or accessories but don’t function like a military weapon.
“Every time one of those guns are sold for 600-700 dollars there’s dollars in taxes that goes into our state revenue,” Derek Levaseur said. “So we want to keep stuff moving in Maine. We want these sales. This is good for Maine.”
