Rand Paul Calls for Firearms Industry Workers to be Deemed Essential Personnel

During the Wuhan Virus pandemic, many elected officials had donned their best demagogue impressions.

Apart from shutting down several localities, they have also gone out of their way to close gun stores and disrupt firearms transactions during a time of crisis.

However, some elected officials like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul have broken the mold by sending a letter to Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on March 24, 2020 calling for him to modify its guidance to consider firearms industry workers as essential personnel.

Due to Senator Paul’s efforts, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency changed its guidance on “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce” to include “[w]orkers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges” on March 28.

“The U.S. Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. The protections afforded by the Second Amendment are indispensable, and they have served our nation well through tranquil times as well as turbulent ones. Our current circumstances are no different,” Senator Paul declared in his letter.

The Kentucky Senator sent another letter to the director from the National Shooting Sports Foundation urging for the guidance change, and he called on Director Krebs “to review the recommendations attached hereto and take all appropriate action to implement them.”

On top of concerns over Second Amendment liberties, the National Shooting Sports Foundation detailed in its letter how important the firearms industry is to supporting federal, state, and local law enforcement. In the NSSF’s view, the firearms industry’s exclusion from the essential workforce would have a negative impact on the ability of law enforcement entities, especially in smaller rural communities, to defend Americans in such a time of uncertainty.

Unlike most of the D.C. Swamp dwellers, Rand Paul believes in upholding basic American freedoms like the Second Amendment.

Gun owners can rest easy knowing that they have a solid champion in Congress.