Queen Anne gun dealer has neighbor up in arms

SEATTLE — "I'm not questioning the integrity of the people buying the guns.  That's not what I am saying."

Mike Hopper has been videotaping people going next door in his leafy, family-friendly Queen Anne neighborhood to buy guns.

"You're bringing in people to buy guns that I don't know," said Hopper. "That's the main issue.  I can't control who comes in here."

Moreover, he says, the guns are being picked up day and night.

"They've been there for 20 minutes or more," he said, looking at a photograph he took of a car sitting at a stop sign.

The guns are actually purchased online, through preciseshooter.com. But the buyers come here to pick up what they bought from the man to whom the website belongs, Sergey Solyanik, a Microsoft employee.

Solyanik said he would not do a television interview but he did talk about the issue on the telephone. He said Seattle is not a "gated community" and people who want to buy guns should be allowed to come in this neighborhood and any other as long as they are there to do their business and nothing else.

KIRO 7 investigated and found Seattle does allow small businesses run out of private homes. There are conditions: The house must be primarily a private residence, the business must be run by someone living in the home and customers must make appointments.

Even Hopper conceded his neighbor is not breaking the law.

"The law is not bad," said Hopper. "But it's designed for a rural environment."

He plans to meet with his state legislator because he doesn't want this happening here anymore.

"This is a quiet neighborhood," Hopper said. "It really is.  Except for the people driving in to buy guns."

According to the website for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Solyanik has a federal license to sell guns from his Queen Anne house.

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