BELLEVUE, WA – Declaring that American gun owners owe President Donald Trump a “very big thank you,” the Second Amendment Foundation today is cheering the announcement from the Department of Homeland Security defining firearms manufacturers and retailers as “essential businesses.
“Every freedom loving American owes President Donald Trump and his administration a very big thank you for protecting our Second Amendment rights,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb in reaction to the DHS announcement. “This is another Trump promise made and promise kept.”
Gottlieb, who has been busy preparing lawsuits against several potential states and even local governments for ordering gun shops to close their doors during the COVID-19 crisis—defining them as “non-essential businesses” while okaying such things as breweries and marijuana shops—was delighted at the news.
“A lot of people have done incredible work this week to make it happen,” he confirmed. “A number of people, including governors and even mayors and at least one California sheriff appear to have let their personal politics get in the way of common sense public policy. During a time of crisis, we can think of no more essential endeavor outside of health care and emergency services than businesses that enable citizens to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.
“It could be that the American public, by heading to gun shops and sporting goods stores as the Coronavirus panic spread, reminded government officials what the Second Amendment is really about,” Gottlieb observed. “Even people who never before owned a firearm rushed to buy one as the pandemic has spread. Instinctively, people headed to those places where they could buy guns and ammunition, which underscores just how essential those businesses really are.
“The president and his administration have done the right thing,” Gottlieb said. “They are dealing with a national emergency while remembering that no malady, however severe, can nullify or even temporarily suspend the exercise of a constitutionally delineated fundamental right.”