Ever since it was opened in the 1950s by a celebrated Olympic shooter, High Bridge Arms has been a defiant fixture in San Francisco's Mission District, but a coming wave of new firearms restrictions has prompted the last gun shop in the liberal City by the Bay to pack it in. 
 
 The proposed new city regulations, which could only be aimed at High Bridge Arms, would have required the shop to take and preserve video of all transactions and turn customers' personal data over to police on a weekly basis. General Manager Steven Alcairo said the shop's owners finally threw in the towel after years of what they consider being unfairly targeted with burdensome rules and regulations. Past regulations have required the shop to bar ads and displays from its windows and install cameras and barriers around its exterior. The shop has 17 cameras as it is, and turns video over to police on request, he said. 
 
 "This time, it's the idea of filming our customers taking delivery of items after they already completed waiting periods," Alcairo said. "We feel this is a tactic designed to discourage customers from coming to us. 
 
 "This year, it's this and next year will probably be something else," Alcairo added. "We don't want to wait for it." 
 
 "This year, it's this and next year will probably be something else." - Steven Alcairo, general manager of San Francisco's last gun shop 
 
 Business for the last gun shop in the city of 840,000 has been good, according to Alcairo, especially since the store, which caters to law enforcement and outdoors enthusiasts, announced it would close next month. 
 
 Situated in the prominent city heart of Mission Street, High Bridge Arms was founded in the mid-1950s by Bob Chow, who competed in the 1948 Olympics 25-yard pistol shooting event. By some accounts a Bay Area institution, it has long been a tourist destination - specially for members of the law enforcement community who visit the city. 
 
 “I found the staff to be friendly, decent, law-abiding people who have been harassed by the San Francisco anti-gun crowd for quite some time,” Jim Wilson, a retired sheriff from Alpine, Texas, told FoxNews.com as he recalled stopping by the shop during a visit to San Francisco a few years back. 
 
 Related Image Expand / Contract The gun shop has stood in San Francisco's Mission District since the 1950s, but Steven Alcairo, (r.), said it is shutting down. 
 
 But the shop has long been a thorn in the side of the city's aggressive advocates of gun control. City Supervisor Mark Farrell, who publicly requested that the city attorney’s office draft the new restrictions two months ago, said “easy access to guns and ammunition continue to contribute to senseless violent crime here in San Francisco and across the country.” 
 
 “Even though San Francisco has some of the toughest gun control laws on the books in the country - there is more we can do to protect the public,” he said in a statement before introducing the package. 
 
 Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said the proposed regulations are not onerous and said “video evidence is a critical component in bringing lawbreakers to justice.” 
 
 Related Image Expand / Contract Retired Texas Sheriff Jim Wilson, (l.), visited the gunshop when he went to San Francisco. 
 
 “If High Bridge Arms is so scared of implementing such a practice, my first question would be, ‘What do you have to hide?,'" he said. "Why in the world aren't we requiring all gun stores to tape sales at this point?” 
 
 Days after the ordinance including the new restrictions was announced earlier this month, the store announced an inventory clearance and closing sale on Facebook. 
 
 “It’s with tremendous sadness and regret that I have to announce we are closing our shop,” read the post. “It has been a long and difficult ride, but a great pleasure to be your last San Francisco Gun shop.” 
 
 Outdoorsmen and Second Amendment supporters blasted the city for targeting the shop, saying the new laws will do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. 
 
 “This is yet another piece of thoughtless, superficial, anti-American, anti-gun legislation that is a dangerous threat to our freedom and Constitution,” Chris Cheng, winner of The History Channel’s Season Four TOP SHOT, and a San Francisco resident, told FoxNews.com. “High Bridge Arms, like many gun shops around America, was a place for well-to-do folks to gather and talk shop about firearms and freedom.” 
 
 California attorney Chuck Michel, who specializes in firearms law and civil rights, said the legislation seems aimed merely at giving politicians a chance to “falsely claim they are doing something about gun violence.” 
 
 “For years San Francisco politicians have inappropriately blamed licensed and inspected gun retailers for violence actually caused by gangs, drugs, and sanctuary city laws,” he said. “The City has imposed a crushing burden of redundant and pointless regulatory red-tape on firearm retailers, all in an effort to put them out of business. Now they have gotten their wish.” ||||| Steven Alcairo was working underneath his car outside his Visitacion Valley home a little more than 20 years ago when he noticed a man burglarizing his residence. 
 
 The proud gun owner slid underneath the car to retrieve his firearm from the nearby tool box. 
 
 “I pointed my gun at him and told him to put everything back and to leave,” said Alcairo, 41, describing the 1994 incident on a recent afternoon inside High Bridge Arms. There, he works as the general manager of San Francisco’s last remaining gun store. 
 
 Having a firearm for self-defense in such situations, according to Alcairo, is why the majority of his customers purchase firearms at the 3185 Mission St. gun shop. 
 
 A customer must ring a buzzer at the gate outside the modest shop and show identification. Immediately inside to the right is an old Irish carpenter-built display case, offering a view of choice handguns. On the wall behind the case hangs an American flag. For self-defense, Alcairo recommends a Glock 23 or a Beretta PX4, both of which cost about $600. 
 
 The gun shop has so far survived San Francisco’s gun control efforts — but that may not be for long. 
 
 Alcairo worries a new proposal announced last week by Supervisor Mark Farrell would have a chilling effect on business. The legislation, which is expected to come up for debate in the fall, would require the video recording of the purchases of firearms and ammunition and at least weekly transmission of the details of who bought ammo and details of the bullets to the Police Department. 
 
 “Personally, I think it’s intrusive,” Alcairo said. He added that “we already have 24-hour surveillance. There are six visible cameras.” 
 
 Police currently can request information on the sales, which require background checks, valid California drivers’ licenses and proof of residency. 
 
 Guns in the store sell from anywhere from $400 to $3,000. He estimates sales of about 1,000 handguns and 1,000 long guns annually. He says he makes gun sales daily. “I can tell you that 80 percent of them are San Francisco residents.” 
 
 Even local police officers buy accessories there. Some memorable sales were to a few judges and a man living at the Four Seasons, who purchased a shotgun, he said. 
 
 Alcairo, a San Francisco native, said when he was growing up there were many more gun stores, and pawn shops sold guns too. In 1999, The City’s largest gun shop, 
 
 Gun Exchange, on 2nd Street shut down amid increasing state and local regulations. In the 70s, there was Val’s Gun Shop in North Beach. Markell’s on Judah Street near 44th Avenue was once a popular gun shop, and other locations like Dave Sullivan Sporting Goods store on Geary Boulevard, now closed, sold ammo and guns. 
 
 Over the years, gun shops have vanished and pawn shops can no longer sell them, leaving only High Bridge Arms. The store was opened by Bob Chow in 1952, operating primarily as a gunsmith. In 1987, it was sold to Andy Takahashi, who before coming to San Francisco via Alaska lived in Japan, where he arranged guided hunts. He owns the gun store building. 
 
 Gun violence remains steady in San Francisco. There were 450 gun-involved crimes between January and June, according to incidents logged by police and available on datasf. That includes 92 assaults, 19 attempted homicides, 40 attempted robberies, 283 robberies and six carjackings. There were another 342 firearm-related incidents for things like possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. 
 
 As of April, SFPD’s compstat data showed there were 50 nonfatal shooting victims this year, with 54 the same time last year. The data showed 13 people were fatally shot during that period compared to three people at the same time in 2014. There were 112 firearm arrests this year compared to 170 in 2014. Police this year have seized 388 firearms as of April 30, compared to 342 last year. 
 
 Gun sales across the state continue to increase. In 2014, there were 512,174 handguns sold in California and 4,272 customers were denied sales, according to the California Department of Justice. There was another 418,683 sales involving long guns and 4,297 denials. 
 
 “These gangsters they don’t care. It’s comedy to them,” Alcairo said of regulations like Farrell’s. “Absolutely I think they are trying to run us out of town. It is unfortunate.” 
 
 But Farrell argues The City should have the best regulations in place for any gun store. “Easy access to guns and ammunition continue to contribute to senseless violent crime here in San Francisco and across the country,” Farrell said when announcing the law. “Even though San Francisco has some of the toughest gun control laws on the books in the country — there is more we can do to protect the public.” 
 
 San Francisco is known as an anti-gun city, as it often pushes the legal envelope on gun control laws. In 2005, 58 percent of the voters passed Proposition H banning the sale of firearms and ammo and outlawed possession of handguns by all city residents except law enforcement officers. The National Rifle Association won the lawsuit to invalidate that law. 
 
 But other laws have met with success despite legal challenges. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of an appeal by the NRA seeking to strike down San Francisco’s new ordinance requiring gun owners to lock or disable their weapons when they are stored at home. “I’m gratified that San Francisco’s common sense gun safety law stands, and I’m very proud of my office’s work to defend it. I’m also intrigued to see where this court goes from here to balance gun rights and public safety,” City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement at the time. 
 
 There may soon come more efforts to curb gun violence. The board approved in February the creation of a gun task force, whose purpose is to make recommendations a year from now for reducing gun violence. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The only gun store in San Francisco is shuttering for good, saying it can no longer operate in the city's political climate of increased gun control regulations and vocal opposition to its business. 
 
 In this Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015 photo, pedestrians walk past High Bridge Arms in San Francisco. High Bridge Arms, the last gun store in San Francisco, is scheduled to close on Oct. 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Jeff... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015 photo, High Bridge Arms general manager Steve Alcairo reaches into a display case of handguns while being interviewed in San Francisco. High Bridge Arms, the last gun... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015 photo, High Bridge Arms general manager Steve Alcairo holds a firearm while interviewed in San Francisco. High Bridge Arms, the last gun store in San Francisco, is scheduled... (Associated Press) 
 
 "It's with tremendous sadness and regret that I have to announce we are closing our shop," High Bridge Arms manager Steve Alcairo announced in a Facebook post on Sept. 11. "It has been a long and difficult ride, but a great pleasure to be your last San Francisco gun shop." 
 
 Alcairo said the breaking point came this summer when a local politician proposed a law that would require High Bridge Arms to video record every gun sale and submit a weekly report of ammunition sales to the police. If passed, the law would join several local gun control ordinances on the books in a city still scarred by the 1993 murder of eight in a downtown high-rise and the 1978 assassination of Mayor George Moscone and gay rights activist Harvey Milk. 
 
 "I'm not doing that to our customers. Enough is enough," Alcairo said. "Buying a gun is a constitutionally protected right. Our customers shouldn't be treated like they're doing something wrong." 
 
 The announcement prompted an outpouring of sympathy and anger online from gun enthusiasts — and a steady stream of customers eager to take advantage of going-out-of-business prices. 
 
 The new rifles lining the store's walls are quickly dwindling, and the handguns in the glass cases are going fast. So are T-shirts that boast in English and Chinese that High Bridge is "The Last San Francisco Gun Store." 
 
 For years, the High Bridge Arms weathered mounting restrictions imposed by local lawmakers and voters, who passed a handgun ban in 2005 that a judge later struck down. The gun store increasingly stood out in the gentrifying Bernal Heights neighborhood of hot restaurants, trendy bars and a chic marijuana dispensary, while weathering organized campaigns calling for its closure. 
 
 High Bridge will close Oct. 31, Alcairo said. 
 
 Supervisor Mark Farrell said he introduced the latest bill to help police combat violent crime in the city. "Anything that makes San Francisco safer, I support," he said. 
 
 Farrell said the bill hasn't been voted on, and he doesn't understand why the store is closing now. He said it was "comical" that the High Bridge is blaming its closure on a proposed law still months away from taking effect. 
 
 Alcairo said news coverage of the bill's introduction in July slowed sales considerably because customers wrongly believed their purchases would be recorded and turned over to police. He said he had to lay off three clerks and that sales slumped throughout the summer. The store's summer slump comes amid an overall gun sales surge in the state, according to California Department of Justice statistics. 
 
 The California DOJ reported 931,000 guns sold last year— three times the number sold in 2004 and the second highest annual number since the department began keeping sales records in 1991. 
 
 In the end, Alcairo said, he and the High Bridge Arms owner tired of the continued opposition and mountains of paperwork required by the San Francisco Police Department, state Department of Justice and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 
 
 Alcairo grew up near the store and says he is angry and disappointed with San Francisco. 
 
 "This is the city that defended gay marriage and fights for unpopular causes like medical marijuana," he said. "Where's my support?" 
 
 Champion pistol shooter Bob Chow opened the store in 1952, four years after competing for the United States in the summer Olympics in London. Chow sold the store to Andy Takahashi in 1988. Chow died in 2003. Takahashi, who also owns the building that houses the store, declined to comment. 
 
 Alcairo said the owner shouldn't have a problem attracting another type of business in economically booming San Francisco. 
 
 The quirky city fixture attracted gun enthusiasts from around the world, many posing in photos with Alcairo and his pistol-packing clerks. Alcairo said professional athletes would visit the store when playing in San Francisco for the novelty of buying a weapon — and a T-shirt — from the city's last gun store. 
 
 "High Bridge has always taken care of me," said Chris Cheng, a San Francisco resident who calls it "my home store." Cheng won a $100,000 cash prize and a professional marksman contract after winning the History Channel's "Top Shot" competition. 
 
 "It's always been a challenge for the store to do business in San Francisco," Cheng said. ||||| Sorry, your browser doesn't support Flash , needs a Flash update , or has Flash disabled. You need Flash to watch this video. 
 
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 Our thoughts and prayers are not enough?it's time to take action. pic.twitter.com/qfEm0j9r3V — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 2, 2015 
 
 More than 10,000 people die from gun violence in the U.S. each year?that can change. http://t.co/Oi80sA6qJD pic.twitter.com/iguwO9P5dh — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 2, 2015 
 
 Responding to Thursday's mass shooting, President Obama said, "You can't kill as many people when you don't have easy access to these kinds of weapons."As of November 1, San Francisco will no longer have any gun shops. The last one standing is about to close because of mounting pressure - but will that help reduce crime?"It's just too much coming from all sides." That's the reason given by High Bridge Arms General Manager Steven Alcairo for closing shop at the end of the month.The latest gun control proposal before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors demands that every gun transaction be recorded and sent to SFPD."Just the announcement, we got a lot of phone calls, a lot of people were under the impression that it was already in effect," Alcairo said.He claims many people stopped coming in.Supervisor Mark Farrell is proposing the measure, which will be voted on in a few weeks."Three quarters of the guns that are used in gun-related deaths in the United States are bought through legal purchases, at stores, licensed stores. So for those who think gun control does not work, I have a significant disagreement with them," Farrell said.The guns recovered from the Oregon shooter were purchased legally, so were the ones used at Sandy Hook Elementary.On Friday, President Obama seemed to agree with that concept. "The only thing we can do is make sure they can't have an entire arsenal when something snaps in them," he said.But an ABC News survey found half of those polled are skeptical that such laws will reduce gun deaths. In fact, Chicago has no gun shops yet that city still has a high murder rate.Alcairo supports other options. "I would not have a problem personally with an armed, trained person at the school protecting our children," he said.Two years ago, some of the Sandy Hook Elementary families came to the Silicon Valley to seek out ideas, like using fingerprint biometrics that would allow only the owner to fire the gun - an idea that could finally make guns safer.
– San Francisco's last gun shop says the city has won the war after years of legislative battles, each one bringing new restrictions on how the shop does business. Around since the 1950s, High Bridge Arms will close its doors next month, reports KGO-TV. Manager Steven Alcairo says past regulations have forced him to remove ads from the store's windows, fill out "mountains of paperwork" for police and other agencies, and hand over footage from the store's 17 video cameras whenever police ask. Now, a proposed ordinance wants him to videotape each sale and give police weekly reports on ammunition sales, reports Fox News. "I'm not doing that to our customers. Enough is enough," Alcairo tells the AP. "Next year will probably be something else. Buying a gun is a constitutionally protected right. Our customers shouldn’t be treated like they're doing something wrong." Alcairo says he sells thousands of guns each year, but customers stopped coming after the proposed laws were announced, believing they had already been put on the books, per the San Francisco Examiner. But "video evidence is a critical component in bringing lawbreakers to justice," counters a rep for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "If High Bridge Arms is so scared of implementing such a practice, my first question would be, 'What do you have to hide?'" Others disagree: "For years San Francisco politicians have inappropriately blamed licensed and inspected gun retailers for violence actually caused by gangs, drugs, and sanctuary city laws," says a lawyer. "The city has imposed a crushing burden of redundant and pointless regulatory red-tape on firearm retailers, all in an effort to put them out of business. Now they have gotten their wish."