(AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Today’s a big day for Ryan Vaden. After years of planning and slowly piecing together his business, the Indianapolis resident is finally opening the doors to Vaden’s Firearms and Ammunition this weekend, and Vaden calls it a “phenomenal dream come true”.
Ryan expects hundreds of shoppers, so masks and social distancing will be enforced for both employees and customers. There will also be store security personnel on hand.
“Fifteen customers will be able to come in at a time, will be able to make any type of firearm purchase, handguns, shotguns, A-R platforms, and ammunition,” Vaden said.
Ryan Vaden Opens Dream Gun Store THIS Weekend
It’s been a decade in the process, but Ryan Vaden is ready for the Grand opening of Vaden’s Firearms & Ammunition in Indy.
Tony Katz talked to Ryan about his journey getting to the grand opening, his focus on gun safety, and his plans to expand (already!) Truly, our kind of guy.
Vaden’s Firearms & Ammunition is located at Linwood Avenue and East 10
th, Indianapolis. Share
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky
It’s a bizarre bit of framing by NBC News, which notes that while gun sales to black Americans increased by more than 50% last year, there are still just a handful of gun stores that are black-owned gun stores.
There are at least 6,000 gun stores in the U.S., according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms trade group. Of those, fewer than 10 are Black-owned, according to the National African American Gun Association, which promotes gun ownership among Black people in the U.S.
And business has never been so good.
Between March 2020 and March 2021, the FBI conducted over 46 million firearm background checks, a prerequisite for purchasing a gun from a store and a proxy for gun sales. In each of the last four months, over 4 million background checks were conducted.
Mar 1, 2021 / 07:27 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) An Indianapolis man is making history by opening the first-ever independently Black-owned gun store in the city.
A 1600-square-foot store on the east side will be the future home of Vaden’s Firearms and Ammunition. The owner, Ryan Vaden, can’t release the exact location yet, but the announcement will be made later in March.
Naysayers called Vaden crazy when he would discuss his goal of owning his own gun shop. But he persevered and used those comments to fuel his dream.
“Just because someone of your color hasn’t done it before doesn’t mean you can’t do it,” said Vaden.
First Black-owned gun shop to open in Indy wthr.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wthr.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.