- March 10, 2025
Before the sun comes up, the parking lot of the Quick King gas station on County Road 305 is packed. Men stand in circles near the gas pumps, trading news and making fun of each other. The lighter it gets, the fewer remain.
They’re hunters, construction workers, fishermen — or those retired from their trades. It’s informally known as the Coffee Club, and it’s a meeting place for residents of Daytona North from 5 to 7 a.m. daily.
Inside, Ray Petersen sits at a booth, one hand loosely wrapped around a Styrofoam coffee cup.
“There’s not a truck out there that doesn’t have a gun in it,” he said, looking over his shoulder toward the parking lot.
In western Flagler County, guns are part of the lifestyle. They’re necessary. They’re used to shoot water moccasins and rats. They’re used for hunting, which is sport for some and a main source of food for others. They’re used for protection.
“My neighbor’s house burned down a few weeks ago,” Petersen said. “It took the fire department 45 minutes to respond. How long do you think it would take police to get here if I was being robbed?”
The longer Peterson sits inside, the more people join him. The booth seats just two, so newcomers sit on folding chairs, and stand about the aisles of the convenience store. One man leans against a shelf and balances his Coke on a yellow cone. “Caution: Wet Floor,” it reads.
In the wake of a national conversation about tightening gun regulation, there’s not much debate among the Coffee Club.
Everyone said he had at least one gun. Most have five or more. They buy weapons for their daughters and wives, teaching them to shoot in case they ever need to.
“If someone wants to break into your house, they’ll break into your house,” Petersen said. “But the difference between you being alive and them being alive is that piece of iron in your drawer.”
To Petersen, those who use guns to kill are criminal, so outlawing guns wouldn’t change their behavior.
Critics of this opinion often cite places that saw a drop in crime rates after mass shootings prompting stricter rules for gun ownership. Bans on automatic and semioautomatic weapons and a strict ownership registration program was passed in Australia in 1996. Gun-related homicides dropped 59% between then and 2006, according to a study published in the American Law and Economics Review.
However, a study published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy argues that gun ownership and homicide and suicide rates do not have a strong correlation, based on data from countries around the world. There is enough conflicting evidence that the debate on the effectiveness of gun control remains open.
NOTE: This one part in four about guns in Flagler County. Click here for the other three.
