Preschool owner who fought gun store closes over enrollment, not the store
A California daycare owner who campaigned to keep a gun store from opening next door is now closing her own preschool, a reversal that Bearing Arms says undercuts the safety case she built her campaign on.
Snapshot
Heather Robbins, owner of Here We Grow Early Learning Center in Goleta, California, says her preschool will close in December after enrollment fell from 14 children to seven. Robbins points to Goodland Guns, which moved into a nearby former 7-Eleven in August, as the cause, even though she says the store is barely noticeable day to day.
Key points
- Enrollment decline: Robbins says enrollment dropped from a peak of 14 kids, out of a licensed capacity of 39, to just seven before the planned December closure.
- Earlier opposition: Robbins had publicly fought Goodland Guns owner Dan Ashton's relocation, telling local media it was a "potential safety hazard" and starting a Change.org petition urging officials to deny the store's move.
- Her own admission: Robbins told reporters "we don't really notice them at all," attributing the enrollment drop instead to parents' "perceived feeling of safety."
- Neighborly steps ignored: Bearing Arms columnist Cam Edwards notes Ashton put up a privacy fence between his lot and the daycare playground and had operated near another preschool before without incident.
- Timeline issue: Edwards points out Here We Grow opened in January, more than six months before Goodland Guns relocated, suggesting enrollment struggles predated the gun store controversy.
Quick take
Edwards argues the daycare's real problem wasn't the gun store but the fear campaign Robbins herself fueled against it. For gun owners, it's a reminder that loud objections to lawful gun businesses often rest more on stoked anxiety than any actual incident.
Read the full story: bearingarms.com