There is the same stuff going on in California mostly and other states. Two gun stores and the Big 5s in my area are shut down as well. All those who tried to buy like 3 days before the shut down order though before will still vote for people with Ds after their name though.
On a side note, lots of people may have watched Bill Maher and now running with the "you can't shoot the virus" argument. The people who must be saying this are living in the safest gated communities where they will call the popo on a well dressed black man just walking by or just really really trust the government to take care of them.
Also they will be the first to suffer if in the 1% chance, law and order actually goes to shit.
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Willow Glen gun shop stayed open, then ordered closed, with modest fanfare; police say they focused on warnings and education for suspected violations of stay-at-home order.
www.mercurynews.com
SAN JOSE — As Bay Area business owners navigated the labyrinthine rules of the sweeping shelter-in-place order implemented Monday, many gun dealers across the region opted to stay open this week, amid a spike in sales apparently driven by fears over the coronavirus pandemic.
But after customers lined up around gun stores in several counties Tuesday — including outside the Bullseye Bishop in San Jose — San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo declared that “gun stores are non-essential.”
“We are having panic buying right now for food,” Liccardo said Wednesday. “The one thing we cannot have is panic buying of guns.”
Law enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday that they shut down the Bullseye Bishop with little fanfare, in one of the first enforcement actions taken in San Jose on the initial day of the shelter-in-place order.
“We went out there and closed it,” San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia said, adding that the owner was cooperative.
Two people who picked up the phone at Bullseye Bishop declined to answer questions from a reporter, repeating that the store is “closed to the public for the next three weeks.”
Outside the shop, San Jose painting contractor Joshua Wolfe, 37, who was buying ammo, said he believed the gun store had every right to remain open.
“Essential? It’s our right to arm ourselves,” Wolfe said. “Toilet paper is essential, right? People are going nuts for that, right?”
Everyone is “on edge,” he said, “because people don’t know the truth of this whole situation. If they’re short on supplies, they’ll come after people who are prepared.”
J.V. Sumabat, 31, of San Jose said he was worried about the same thing.
“I’ve seen people fighting over toilet paper. I’m worried what they will do out of desperation,” he said. “When people start looting stores and they don’t have access to food, they could come into the homes of those they feel are vulnerable. I’d rather be prepared.”
Garcia said the owner of the store had told officers the business remained open because, under regulations from the California Department of Justice, they are limited in how long they can hold firearms that had already been purchased, and the buyers had to pick them up.
“We told them to go to DOJ and seek a waiver,” Garcia said. “There was no malicious intent. A lot of this stuff is going to happen.”
The gun shop closure was one of a handful of other enforcement actions by SJPD on Tuesday, including similar shutdown talks with three smoke shops, a pet grooming business and a flower shop, none of which resulted in citations. Officers also broke up a pickup basketball game at a city park, reportedly telling the participants they weren’t abiding by social distancing advisories with man-to-man defense.
Law-enforcement agencies throughout the Bay Area have said they will lean toward giving warnings and education people about the sheltering order and that issuing misdemeanor citations — the maximum legal heft to punish violations — will be used as a last resort.
Even so, Garcia said his department has assigned patrol units to be on the lookout for visible and obvious violations of the business and gathering prohibitions, like a bar staying open or a house party being held.
“We’re not turning a blind eye,” Garcia said. “We’re not proactively stopping cars and people, but if non-exempt businesses are open and we get calls, we’ll look into it.”
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In a time of quarantines and stay-at-home orders, should a gun store be considered an "essential business?"
sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com
archived 24 Mar 2020 01:09:31 UTC
archive.vn
CASTRO VALLEY (KPIX) — In a time of quarantines and stay-at-home orders, should a gun store be considered an “essential business?”
That’s the debate in Alameda County as sheriff’s deputies order shut gun stores that continue to defy the shelter-in-place order.
For the past week, the sheriff’s office has repeatedly told Solar Tactical in Castro Valley to shut down and, on Friday, the store’s owner finally closed up shop after the district attorney threatened him with prosecution.
Yet some people argue that gun stores are important in keeping people safe.
“There’s been a home invasion two doors down from where I lived,” said Joshua Boothby, who stopped by Solar Tactical to pick up a handgun. Boothby had purchased the gun 10 days ago. And it was ready for pickup after the required cooling-off period and background check. He arrived at the store Friday afternoon to find it closed.
Boothby said guns and ammo are essential in these uncertain times. He already owns a shotgun but he thought a handgun would better protect his family if someone breaks in to his Castro Valley home.
“It’s kind of concerning that, like, you’re hearing about martial law might go into effect and then you hear about prisoners being released,” said Boothby.
Solar Tactical shuttered its stores in Livermore and Castro Valley Friday morning.
“A gun store is an essential business because it’s a Second-Amendment right,” explained Solar Tactical owner Mike Addis. “A lot of our customers are business owners and they’re concerned about looting or they’re concerned about their personal safety in the house,” Addis added.
Addis said business has been going through the roof and most customers are first-time buyers. He felt unfairly targeted and singled out by the sheriff.
“Definitely a mixed message. Up and down California, some shops are open, some are not open. Big 5 can sell guns right now. Walmart can sell guns right now,” Addis said.
“This was never an argument over the Second Amendment. This was an argument about essential versus non-essential in the fight against COVID-19,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly, spokesman for Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office says that, in a health crisis, they have to make tough decisions.
“People that are buying weapons now — all of a sudden — that were not weapons owners prior, what type of training and experience do they have in handling those weapons? That’s a concern,” Sgt. Kelly said.
Kelly said gun stores were not labeled as essential businesses. But, nearly everybody has an opinion on whether gun stores are essential.
“It’s not essential,” said Daniel Alderete of Pinole. “It’s not a grocery store — you do got to go and eat. You’ve got to go to the hospital. But (the gun store), for what reason? Are you going to shoot the coronavirus?” Alderete wondered.
Addis said he may reopen depending on what his attorney advises. They are reviewing the legal standing and are trying to convince county leaders that gun stores are essential business.
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Citing the supply needs of the police and military, and self-defense by the public, the gun industry is seeking to be included as “critical infrastructure” by the federal government, a designation that would allow stores and manufacturing plants to stay open and supplied during the coronavirus…
www.washingtonexaminer.com
archived 24 Mar 2020 01:17:27 UTC
archive.vn
Citing the supply needs of the police and military, and self-defense by the public, the gun industry is seeking to be included as “critical infrastructure” by the federal government, a designation that would allow stores and manufacturing plants to stay open and supplied during the coronavirus crisis.
The industry trade group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents 9,000 companies and retailers, said it is lobbying officials to be included as part of the “defense industrial base” and “emergency services sector,” part of the nation’s 16 critical infrastructures vital to the country.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security, NSSF’s Senior Vice President Lawrence G. Keane wrote, “Whether it is providing firearms or ammunition to military, law enforcement, and law-abiding citizens or ensuring that they have access to shooting ranges for training, the firearm industry is a critical component of our nation’s security, public safety, and economic well-being. We must remain open for business. By including our industry among our nation’s critical infrastructure industries, you can help ensure that we are able to do so.”
He said the industry is concerned that in reacting to the coronavirus fight, some states or localities may close gun stores, ranges, and plants by designating them “non-essential.” That happened during Hurricane Katrina and has happened during the current crisis in a handful of California and Georgia cities.
However, Keane said that the industry has been protected as “essential” in places such as Illinois.
In his letter, posted below, Keane said that keeping the police and military supplied is critical.
“We cannot expect law enforcement to do its job of serving, protecting, and defending our communities without making sure they have access to the tools they need and which our industry provides,” it said.
And the public deserve the right to protect themselves, he added.
“Food, water, shelter and adequate medical care are paramount for survival, but so too is the ability for an individual to defend his or herself, their family, as well as their home, business and property. The firearm and ammunition industry is essential for law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment right to acquire a firearm and ammunition for personal protection and home defense,” he wrote.
During the virus crisis, gun stores have cited record sales of weapons and ammunition.
The Firearms Policy Coalition said this weekend that ammo sales had popped nearly 300%, the FBI background check system has been slowed by a huge wave of gun purchase applications and guns are “flying off the shelves.”
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The National Rifle Association (NRA) published a video this weekend showing Carletta Whiting, a breast-cancer survivor said to have a fibromyalgia-related disability, outlining her reasons for possessing firearms during the coronavirus pandemic -- and it didn't take long for a top Senate...
www.foxnews.com
archived 24 Mar 2020 01:16:13 UTC
archive.vn
The National Rifle Association (NRA) published a video this weekend showing Carletta Whiting, a breast-cancer survivor said to have a fibromyalgia-related disability, outlining her reasons for possessing firearms during the coronavirus pandemic -- and it didn't take long for a top Senate Democrat to call the message "sickening."
The flare-up highlighted the ongoing disputes between some municipalities seeking to restrict Second Amendment rights, and others arguing that times of crisis were precisely the moments when gun rights needed to be protected.
Police departments in major cities, including Philadelphia, already have abandoned making arrests for various offenses. New Orleans and other jurisdictions have assumed the power to ban gun transfers.
"What's in my control is how I defend myself if things go from bad to worse," Whiting said, before firing a 9MM round from her AR-9 rifle. "I know from history how quickly society breaks down during a crisis, and we've never faced anything like this before, and never is the Second Amendment more important than during public unrest."
Whiting noted that "even liberals in California" were "lining up because they know the government will not be able to protect them." In mid-March, the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) experienced a threefold jump in background-application processing compared to the same time period last year.
Several states, meanwhile, also have reported dramatic upticks in gun purchases. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced last week it had received over 14,000 background checks for firearm purchases in the preceding week, and only 7,000 in the same period in 2019. And, Virginia State Police saw 64,000 background check requests in February, compared to 39,300 last February.
Nevertheless, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., slammed the video, and suggested that the NRA was urging gun-owners to avoid stockpiling food and other resources. In the video, Whiting argued that stockpiling only food alone was not sufficient.
"Mainstream gun owners have left the NRA, so now they’re reduced to telling people to stockpile assault weapons, instead of food, to get ready for the coming Coronavirus civil war," Murphy tweeted. "So sickening."
In response, the NRA called Murphy's attack disingenuous, and part of a larger effort by Democrats to undermine gun rights.
"Sen. Murphy is either being intentionally disingenuous or is obtuse," the NRA's director of media relations, Amy Hunter, told Fox News. "Carletta Whiting is one of millions of Americans who feel vulnerable and who know that when crime happens, the police are minutes away — despite their best intentions.
"Right now, anti-gun politicians are using the pandemic to try and strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights," Hunter continued. "Meanwhile, gun sales are increasing because good people are worried their government won't be able to protect them. This is when Americans rely on their Second Amendment rights the most."
There has been some concern that the national supply of firearms and ammunition may not be able to meet the growing demand.
"Firearm retailers and manufacturers were not prepared to meet the surge or a sustained long-term demand, so firearms and ammunition will seem to be largely absent from dealer shelves for weeks to come," cautioned Eric Poole, the editor of Guns and Ammo magazine. "If firearm and ammunition manufacturers throughout the U.S. are required to keep their workforce at home, this will have a more profound effect and drive up prices, to include private transfers of firearms and ammunition, which are not monitored or recorded by the NICS system."
Interviews conducted by Fox News in recent days with several gun store owners and sellers indicated that sales this month, on average, have spiked anywhere between 30 and 400 percent, compared with a "normal" time period. In addition to a jump in guns and ammunition sales, requests for body armor also have accelerated in some places.
For many people, this week has marked the first time they have bought a firearm.
"I just got a 9mm handgun this week," John McEvoy, 34, from Idaho, said. "As this situation continues to unfold, I predict that crime rates are going to increase. If food and basic necessities start to run out, I don't want to be the victim of a break-in and not be prepared to protect myself and my family."
