Court rebukes viral closing of gun stores

Subject: Court rebukes viral closing of gun stores Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:16 pm

FILE – In this March 15, 2020 file photo people wait in a line to enter a gun store in Culver City, Calif. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, overturned two California counties orders shutting down gun and ammunition stores in 2020 as nonessential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Court rebukes viral closing of gun stores Virus_Outbreak_Gun_Store_Closures_83544

Court rebukes viral closing of gun stores Virus_Outbreak_Gun_Store_Closures_83544

Of the state’s many questionable and illogical COVID-19-based closures of private businesses, the one affecting gun stores was the most dubious. That’s not because gun stores are inherently more important than other types of businesses, but because California’s firearms-averse officials used the pandemic as an excuse to temporarily restrict a constitutionally protected right.

Fortunately, a three-judge panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week rebuked — in refreshingly stark terms — the decision by Ventura County to close gun stores, ammunition shops and firing ranges for 48 hours. The court criticized Ventura County for imposing this rule while it allowed bicycle shops to remain open.

Its rejection of Los Angeles County’s decision to shutter those retailers for 11 days was more matter of fact, but it relied on the same principles. The counties have since lifted those shutdowns, but as new variants of the pandemic rear their head, it’s reassuring for the courts to impose additional limits on local emergency powers.

In overturning lower-court decisions upholding the gun-shop closures, the court found that the Constitution’s Second Amendment “means nothing if the government can prohibit all persons from acquiring any firearm or ammunition.” It ruled that this “wholly prevented law-abiding citizens in the County from realizing their right to keep and bear arms.”

In California, there’s no other legal means to obtain a firearm than to show up personally at a store, so shutting those stores meant a suspension of the right to obtain a firearm for the length of the ban. The counties “failed to provide any evidence or explanation suggesting that gun shops … posed a greater risk of spreading COVID19 than other businesses and activities deemed ‘essential,’” noted the court.

This editorial board accepted some emergency rules during a public-health crisis, but complained about the way officials misused their powers to pursue their political hobbyhorses.

The COVID-19 situation reinforced a point that libertarians often make — that government officials will eagerly tread on our liberties when given the opportunity. Fortunately, a federal court understands that reality, also.

.https://www.dailynews.com/2022/01/26/court-rebukes-viral-closing-of-gun-stores/

Court rebukes viral closing of gun stores

Court rebukes viral closing of gun stores

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