Gun Owners of California sent an urgent letter on March 20, 2020 to Governor Gavin Newsom demanding that he update his COVID-19 EXECUTIVE ORDER N-33-20. This order laid out exceptions to the stay at home instruction for operations identified as “essential” according to the federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
CISA was updated to include “[w]orkers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges” as part of the essential infrastructure.
The federal designation regarded the firearms industry as essential and has supremacy over mandates coming from individual states to close gun stores. GOC is still waiting for the Governor to respond to the federal government’s directive and update his current order.
AmmoLand noted that Democrat Assemblyman Miguel Santiago had other plans though.
He requested that Newsom cease all firearm and ammunition sales, alluding to the perpetuation of a “cycle of a public panic and impulsive action.”
Santiago sent out a letter to Newsom, which received signatures from other colleagues in the legislature. It can be read here.
Santiago insisted that Californians be armed with “strong safeguards on public health and safety” instead of being able to defend themselves in a time of crisis.
California has stood out in its heavy-handed response to the Wuhan virus.
There is a way to keep citizen safe in times of viral outbreaks, but it does not require state measures that infringe on the rights of completely unrelated activities.
Hopefully, Gun Owners of California is able to compel the state of California to respect Second Amendment rights.
