Coronavirus: gun rights group sues Los Angeles over closure of firearms stores during outbreak

A gun rights group is suing the city of Los Angeles, arguing that an order that closed stores that sell firearms during the Covid-19 pandemic is unconstitutional and pre-empted by state law.

The lawsuit, whose plaintiffs include the California Rifle & Pistol Association and stores selling firearms in the San Fernando Valley, states that although Mayor Eric Garcetti did not expressly name gun stores in his written order, both Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer have stated that they must close and the police department has ordered them to shut down.

The rifle group argues that the move defies a state order allowing workers from “critical infrastructure sectors” to continue working. In addition, the plaintiffs contend that the L.A. order violates the California state constitution by depriving licensed dealers of the ability to operate without “due process of law” and keeping buyers from their “lawfully purchased property.”

The plaintiffs want the courts to force Los Angeles to immediately stop enforcing the order.

“Firearm stores provide essential and desperately needed services for police, first responders, private security, and concerned citizens – including those who want to be prepared for potential civil unrest,” said Chuck Michel, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

“The vast majority of jurisdictions in California recognise this. But the city is stubbornly clinging to its dogmatic opposition to allowing people to choose for themselves how best to be prepared,” Michel said.

Michel added that such stores are “going above and beyond” to ensure social distancing by keeping people at least 6 feet apart and getting mobile phone numbers for customers so they can wait in their cars until being allowed inside.

A Garcetti spokesman referred a request for comment to the City Attorney’s Office, which did not immediately provide comment on Saturday morning.

Another set of gun owner groups already sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff, Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials over the closure of gun stores across the county to anyone but police and licensed security company employees. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, characterised the closure as a violation of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.

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After getting a federal advisory, Sheriff Alex Villanueva changed course and allowed such stores to remain open. The city of Los Angeles, which has continued to order the closure of gun shops, was later added as a defendant in the federal case.

Feuer and other city lawyers argued in the federal case that “all kinds of businesses have been temporarily closed to address a dire public health need” and that gun stores should not be exempt from the order, which was imposed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“Any measure that averts unnecessary person-to-person contact slows the spread of infection, and so buys the county’s health care system time to address the COVID-19 crisis before the number of sick patients overwhelms its capacity to care for them,” city lawyers wrote in their filing.