Aidan Montgomery is soft spoken and by his own admission “non-political.”
His new business, Santa Rosa Outfitters, might be located at the Milton-area commercial space previously occupied by Gulf Coast Guns and its outspoken and uber-political owner Chris Smith, but chances are extremely good any advertising Montgomery does won’t grate on the nerves quite like a vintage Chris Smith production.
“We are an independent business not affiliated with Gulf Coast Guns,” Montgomery said.
The building still carries the scent of fresh paint and some shelves need stocking, but Santa Rosa Outfitters held a soft opening March 31 and Montgomery has already notched his first gun sale. He’ll be open for the foreseeable future from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and said in another three weeks to a month he’ll be running at full speed.
Montgomery said he’ll keep 400 to 500 guns on hand, everything from AR’s to bolt action rifles, and market firearms for both outdoor activities and tactical uses, so as to cater to the area’s heavy military population.
He also wants to focus more than his predecessor did on equipping people for the outdoors by selling archery and fishing equipment and supplies.
“I’d love to have the support of the community and have people come in and let us know what they’d like to see in the store,” he said.
This will be his first time running his own store, but he has spent years in the employ of Scott’s Outdoors, a business operating since 1954 with locations in Jay, Brewton and Evergreen, Alabama that caters to the same customer base Santa Rosa Outfitters will.
“I don’t play political or anything like that,” he said. “We want to be a family friendly store selling guns and outdoor equipment,” he said. “If someone wants a gun and I can, I’m going to sell it to them.”
Assistant Manager Joseph Pyritz came out of retirement to work at Santa Rosa Outfitters. He said he expects to see the new business thrive.
“It’s going to go phenomenally just because of the owners,” he said. “It’s not so much what you have in the building, it’s the ties to the community. This is a family owned business that’s about the customer. That’s the way it should be, right?”
Montgomery is the store manager at Santa Rosa Outfitters and his mother, Amanda Montgomery, is listed on state documents as the managing partner. He said the family saw an opportunity to open an independent business when Gulf Coast Guns and Outdoors announced it was closing in October of last year.
Gulf Coast Guns downfall
Smith was forced to close the doors at Gulf Coast Guns after Santa Rosa deputies, acting on a court order, repossessed between $600,000 and $1.2 million worth of store inventory
The deputies were acting on behalf of Lakeland West Capital 48 LLC, to which Smith had defaulted on a $100,000 loan. His debt ballooned to over $550,000 with interest, according to reports.
Smith, who these days lists his profession as “digital creatorm” has since announced his intention to file for bankruptcy.
News of the pending bankruptcy filing was released through court documents. The gun store owner is also being sued by former Santa Rosa County Commissioner Sam Parker, who filed suit against Smith in December of 2023.
Smith began in April of 2020 using Parker’s name and likeness, in the form of a cardboard cutout, as part of a “taxation is theft” sales promotion. The promotion involved Gulf Coast Gun and Outdoors covering the sales taxes of customers on purchases made at the store.
Attorneys for Parker argued using Parker’s name and/or likeness on social media platforms that included Facebook Instagram, YouTube and Twitter were “uniformly derogatory.” Their use, according to the lawsuit, had diminished the value of Parker’s “measured engagement with members of the public as a politician and businessman.”
Smith responded to the lawsuit by pushing back.
He posted a video on Facebook in which he is seen standing next to a cardboard cutout of Parker and pretending to ponder the question of why the lawsuit had been filed by “Commissioner Sam Parker and not cardboard cutout Sam Parker.”
Smith moved to have the case dismissed. His attorney, former state Rep. Anthony Sabatini, argued that his client’s use of a Parker cutout with his gun shop as a back drop was not a gimmick to sell guns.
The civil suit, alleging libel, was scheduled to go to court in early February but was continued indefinitely on a motion made by Smith.
“(Smith) is in the process of consulting with bankruptcy counsel and anticipates filing a voluntary bankruptcy petition in the coming weeks,” the motion for continuance stated.
Circuit Court Judge J. Scott Duncan granted the motion two days after it was filed.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: New owner, new name; Gulf Coast Guns replaced by Santa Rosa Outfitters
Reporting by Tom McLaughlin, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
