{"id":126634,"date":"2020-04-01T11:11:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T15:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=126634"},"modified":"2020-04-01T11:11:40","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T16:26:57","slug":"legal-argumentsclosing-gun-shops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/legal-argumentsclosing-gun-shops\/","title":{"rendered":"The Legal Arguments for Closing Gun Shops During COVID-19 Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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(Photo: Everytown for Gun Safety<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Any lawyers out there? Constitutional scholars?\u00a0 Law school professors? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a question for you: Does it violate the Constitution to shutter gun stores and firearms manufacturers during a global pandemic? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorneys for Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Michael Bloomberg\u2019s Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, argued in a memorandum<\/a> this week that closing down FFLs during the COVID-19 crisis does not violate one\u2019s right to keep and bear arms. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Second Amendment does not require that gun stores be singled out for special treatment and allowed to remain open during the most significant public health crisis of the last 100 years,\u201d said Eric Tirschwell, managing director of Everytown Law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs broad laws that apply to thousands of businesses, these closure orders are clearly designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, not undermine anyone’s Second Amendment rights,\u201d he continued.\u00a0 \u201cThe courts have made clear that broad, generally-applicable laws like these are constitutional.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO: Inmates Released to Protect Against COVID-19 Already Committing Murder<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The memorandum was published in the wake of the Trump administration\u2019s recent decision to add the gun industry to the list of \u201ccritical infrastructure<\/a>,\u201d an overt suggestion that these are \u201cessential\u201d businesses and should remain open for business. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that federal guideline is non-binding, meaning the states don\u2019t necessarily have to adhere to it, at least one state, New Jersey, has taken note<\/a> and reversed its initial decree that FFLs are \u201cnon-essential.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn accordance with the guidance released over the weekend by the federal Department of Homeland Security, we will allow firearms sellers to operate,\u201d said NJ Gov. Phil Murphy during a Monday press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have been my definition, but that\u2019s the definition at the federal level. I didn\u2019t get a vote on that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro-gun groups, like the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), are actively suing states and local governments that are forcing gun shops to close.\u00a0 Fundamentally, SAF argues that these emergency closure orders violate one\u2019s 2A rights. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But according to Everytown Law\u2019s analysis, that argument doesn\u2019t hold water because, emergency closure orders:<\/p>\n\n\n\n