California Sheriff Rescinds Order to Close Gun Stores as Non-Essential Businesses

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Los Angeles County’s sheriff on Tuesday had initially urged all gun stores on Tuesday to close this week and threatened enforcement, calling such businesses “non-essential” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

But by the evening, after the top lawyer for the county expressed an opposing view, arguing those shops should be open, Sheriff Alex Villanueva reversed his stance, deciding to suspend enforcement efforts to close gun stores, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.

Villanueva’s calls for gun shop closures contradicted with a statement issued by the top lawyer for the county, which said that neither L.A. county’s stay-at-home order or the executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom specifically mentioned gun shops, prompting the Los Angeles County counsel’s office to issue a statement late Tuesday saying it has “opined that gun stores qualify as essential businesses.”