Roy Berg recently helped a couple in their 70s buy their first gun.

Worried by current events, they came to Berg’s New Kensington store wanting a weapon for protection.

After discussing their desire for home defense and their age, he helped them find something uncomplicated that would be best for them — a Smith & Wesson .38 Bodyguard, a small five-shot revolver.

“That’s the perfect little gun,” he said.

That’s the kind of assistance Berg says he and his son, Cole, can provide at RC Firearms that people won’t find at big-box stores.

The pair, both military veterans who live in Upper Burrell, opened RC Firearms in February.

Roy, 53, was a corporal in the Marines from 1989 to 1993 and served in Desert Storm. Cole, 23, joined the Army straight out of Burrell High School and was a military police officer.

Cole remains in the Army reserves and works full time as a police officer in Frazer.

Roy has operated AK Valley Auto Glass since 2007, recently moving it to a new building on Seventh Street. RC Firearms is located in its former office space on Freeport Street.

Opening a gun store was Roy’s idea, which he pitched to Cole in early 2022 while he was still overseas in the Army.

“You need a local gun shop. Covid put a lot of people out of business,” Roy Berg said. “We can build you a custom rifle. We can teach and give knowledge to people that the big stores cannot.”

It’s not something he ever thought he’d do.

“It’s something I feel is needed in your community,” he said. “It’s a constitutional right that shouldn’t be taken for granted. If nobody else does it, it’s something that goes away in time. Every American should be able to defend themselves.”

A mural of the area’s fallen police officers by Roy’s daughter, Carissa Linza of Allegheny Township, adorns the entrance to the store. It features Lower Burrell’s Derek Kotecki, New Kensington’s Brian Shaw and Brackenridge’s Justin McIntire.

RC Firearms offers handguns, rifles and shotguns, reloading supplies and ammunition. They buy, sell and trade. By next summer, Berg says he wants to get into archery equipment.

The oldest gun currently at the store is a flintlock rifle made about 60 years ago. The newest is the recently released Smith & Wesson Response, a 9 mm carbine rifle with a light polymer body and an interchangeable magazine well that allows it to use Glock magazines.

Much like the older couple, Berg said they’re seeing people who have never owned a gun now looking to buy.

“People are scared. There’s so much turmoil. There’s senseless violence,” he said. “Police are understaffed. If someone breaks into your house and you call 911, it may take 10 to 15 minutes for the police to arrive, especially if you live in a rural area.”

But Berg cautions that people should not buy a gun based on name alone. Much like choosing a car, he suggests going to a store, asking to see several, and picking up and holding them to see what feels right.

“If it feels good, you’re going to shoot it better,” he said.

“I like helping people. I like giving them knowledge. I still learn every day.”

While Berg says business has been a little better than he expected, he realizes it is difficult to make a living selling guns because there isn’t much of a markup.

“You don’t make very much money on a gun,” he said.

Cole Berg said they try to be reasonable with their pricing to help people.

“I like the way it’s going so far,” he said. “I’m looking forward to years to come.”

In the coming years, Roy Berg said he’d like to get into custom rifles for long-range shooting.

“That’s my passion. That’s what I enjoy,” he said.

In a lengthy meeting with an agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal agency that regulates the firearms industry, Roy Berg said they learned they can refuse to sell a gun to anyone they have a bad feeling about and don’t need to give a reason. That was nice to know, he said, since his biggest fear is selling a gun to someone who uses it to hurt another.

But he finds balance.

“How many guns will I sell that may save somebody’s life?” he said.