The arms dealer next door

Growing up all over the Mission, my neighbors ran the traditional gamut from practically invisible, to certifiably insane, to downright dangerous.

When I was six, on Christmas Eve the woman on the top floor found out her husband was cheating on her. She stood on the ledge of her front window, screaming and threatening to jump en Español while shocked neighbors and her husband begged her not to.

Other non-suicidal neighbors have played key roles in our underground economy over the years, like the illegal peddling of drugs and sex.

I’ve never knowingly, though, lived within a bullet’s distance of an arms dealer, a modern-day gun slinger. But that’s what residents of a Pleasant Hill condo complex are facing as one of their neighbors looks to run an online gun business out of his condo.

Rico Tedjakusuma got the go-ahead from the city last October to operate LNC Arms, an online-only gun store, from his condo on Scottsdale Road. His permit application described the business as “mostly online” buying and selling of firearms.

Even as a non-stocking dealer with a permit that prohibits direct sales from his home, Tedjakusuma would still be allowed to store an unlimited number of firearms at the address.

The property manager of Tedjakusuma’s condo complex isn’t too happy about their resident’s career direction. Christopher Stanley, community manager with Bay Area Property Services, told the CoCo Times he’s going to try to stop it:

“I’m really shocked that the city even allowed this, because what happens when someone breaks in and steals all the guns?”

It’s difficult to judge from the sloppy, template-style web page at lncarms.com what the actual future plans of the business are. But gun-control advocacy groups aren’t waiting for the finished product to oppose it.

Karen Arntzen, from Pleasant Hill and a member of the Contra Costa Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, told the CoCo Times the business puts the public at risk:

“It creates a public safety issue for the neighborhood, and that’s why Pinole is against it and that’s why we’re against it.”

Pinole banned home gun sales just a few weeks ago.

Until LNC Arms is up and able to serve the online firearm needs of the greater Diablo Valley, hopefully sites like GunsAmerica.com (color scheme? Red, white and blue) and its 30 percent-off Mother’s Day sales can hold you over.

Jesse Garnier

Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.