Sides Sharpen Focus in Protest at Lansdowne Sports Shop

It appears the line has been drawn in the standoff between a locally owned sporting shop and a religious group concerned about illegal handgun sales.

On Saturday, Heeding God's Call plans a second protest at Clyde's Sport Shop, of the 2300-block of Hammonds Ferry Road in Lansdowne, in an attempt to persuade shop owners Clyde and Bill Blamberg to sign a 10-point "" intended to prevent illegal gun sales.

The code was originally drafted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and signed by Wal Mart, the nation's largest gun retailer, in 2008. Provisions of the code are intended to reduce "straw purchases" in which a person buys a gun for someone  unable to pass the mandatory background check.

Straw purchases are a crime for which a person can face up to 10 years in prison. Gun dealers who engage in straw purchases can lose their state or federal license.

"They can demonstrate all they want; we're not signing the thing," said Bill Blamberg, who has run the shop with his brother at the same location for more than 50 years. "We're not doing anything illegal."

Based in Philadelphia, Heeding God's Call has chapters in Harrisburg and Baltimore, where it is associated with the Presbytery of Baltimore. According to Deborah Milcarek, the group's local spokesperson, the organization plans to expand its presence across Maryland, in the District of Columbia, and other major cities.

Clyde's is being targeted because of a 2008 study by the Abell Foundation,  which found a large number of guns taken off the streets by police in Baltimore were traced to the shop. Of nearly 2,000 guns seized by Baltimore police over a 15-month period that could be traced, about 17 percent were recently purchased guns  popular with young people, according to the Abell report.

Out of 347 of these "new" guns, 64 had been initially purchased from Clyde's.

In October, Heeding God's Call held a protest in front of Clyde's after the shop owners rejected the request to sign the code. On November 21, Clyde's held a customer appreciation day to rally support of gun owners.

Milcarek said her group will not stop protesting until Clyde's – and all other gun dealers in Maryland – sign the code.

Blamberg said most of the items in the code are already in place, and the remainder intrudes on the privacy of his customers and erodes Second Amendment rights. "If it's not required, we're not doing it," he said. "This is an encroachment of honest citizens' rights."

Employee Michael Dungan, who has worked at Clyde's for 20 years and been a customer of the shop since being introduced to hunting by his father at age 8, resents the implication that law-abiding gun dealers and owners are responsible for violence on the streets of Baltimore.

"They make it sound like we're the problem," Dungan said. "We know 99 percent of the people who come in here. They're not criminals."

"I understand what they're trying to do, but they're barking up the wrong tree," said Blamberg. "We aren't the problem. The problem is the criminals."

Support for Clyde's is building on Facebook and among gun rights groups. A Libertytown, MD-based group called Maryland Shall Issue is encouraging members to show up in support of Clyde's on Saturday, and many have expressed support for the Blamberg brothers on social networking sites.

Dungan said gun owners will not be intimidated by Heeding God's Call, nor will they accede to their demands. "If they bring 100, we'll bring 1,000. If they bring 500, we'll bring 5,000," he said. "We will not back down."

Blamberg said the protesters are just wasting their time.

"Let them come," he said. "They can come as many times as they want. We're not signing, period."