When a gun store closes, it can have a huge impact on the surrounding community it served. Last we covered what one closure meant to the owners and residents of Momence, Illinois, who were left without a nearby indoor range, but Bordertown Guns isn’t the only Illinois FFL to close its doors in recent months.
The Chicago Tribune has actually provided a nuanced and neutral take on the shuttering of one gun store in the suburbs south of the Windy City and the effect that its absence may have had on gun owners… particularly those interested in exercising their right to carry.
Terry Cornell, an Evergreen Park resident, said he would often spend his weekends having doughnuts and coffee at Kee Firearms and Training with about 100 people from across Chicago, learning about gun safety at the store’s free concealed carry classes.
About 400 people attended the classes monthly, which required a $30 range fee per class, according to owner Jeffery Regnier.
Many customers returned for additional training or to listen in, which created a community space where people, especially those who couldn’t afford other training classes and even young teenagers, could learn more about gun safety and chat, Cornell said.
“So the guys got to eat, and they got to learn, and I’ll tell you they were laughing and joking in the back of the room, and I was sitting back and I was like that’s the best thing I ever seen,” Cornell said.
That all ended, though, when prosecutors in Will County accused Regnier and his wife of fraudulently obtaining COVID funds and money laundering in 2023. As the Tribune reports, “Regnier lost his license to sell guns and, in November 2024, didn’t have the funding to pay the store building’s mortgage.”
Last month, though, prosecutors dropped several of the charges after a judge in Will County denied their request to delay the trial. Regnier also won a civil forfeiture case last month related to multiple vehicles and investment accounts worth millions of dollars that were seized by authorities during their investigation. The couple are due back in court in early September to face additional charges of money laundering and filing fraudulent tax paperwork, but the case raises serious questions about whether Regnier was targeted because of the nature of his business, and not just his business practices.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, the closing of Kee Firearms and Training has left a hole in the 2A community in the southern suburbs of Chicago, and though there are still options for folks who need to take the class required to obtain a concealed carry permit, Cornell says they’re not as easy or affordable to attend.
He said he hasn’t found any courses similar to the Kee’s training that are affordable, scheduled on the weekend and extensive.
Cornell said training courses usually cost hundreds of dollars and he said he knew people who would own and use guns without the training or license because the courses were unaffordable and only on weekdays.
Regnier said his offering free classes changed the market, and several businesses that offered paid classes shut down because they couldn’t keep up.
“There’s no one to fill that role, even on a paid avenue,” Regnier said. “Nobody can handle hundreds of people doing training every weekend.”
While gun store owner Joe Malone agrees Regnier threw a “wrench in the market,” he said there are still accessible, affordable options.
“But they would get people in the store and then what happens, when you’re in the store where you see all the accessories they have available, and when you look at companies, yeah, it makes sense as to why they did what they did and it definitely threw a wrench in the market for sure,” he said.
Malone said he had to recently close his gun business in New Lenox due to a lack of registrations, unrelated to Kee, and argues there isn’t enough demand for these trainings in the area.
Part of the reason for that may be the decline in violent crime we’re seeing in many cities, including Chicago. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Illinois’ restrictive gun laws plays a role as well. The state makes would-be gun owners jump through multiple hoops just to keep a gun in the home, and bearing arms in self-defense requires a weekend-long training course that includes a live-fire test, which limits the number of locations where classes can be held.
We know that gun sales are trending down nationally, but with nearly 1-million sales last month there’s obviously still a substantial appetite among Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights. In states like Illinois, though, the government is artificially suppressing the market even more through red tape, regulations, and numerous infringements on our right to keep and bear arms; all aimed at not only reducing the number of FFLs, but the number of Illinois residents lawfully keeping and bearing arms.
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