Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday wouldn’t say whether his unprecedented statewide shelter-in-place order means gun stores in California have to close as non-essential businesses, instead leaving that decision to each of the state’s 58 counties.
“I believe in people’s right to bear arms but I’ll defer to the sheriff in this instance, the sheriffs in their respective jurisdictions,” said Newsom during a press conference.
That’s sure to muddle what some local leaders say is a growing public safety issue: panicked buying of firearms and some stores defying tougher restrictions in Bay Area counties that don’t define them as essential businesses during the unprecedented lockdown to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“We don’t want a run on guns,” Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia said Wednesday. “It’s a public safety issue. Law enforcement is well prepared to handle any issues. People don’t need to stock up on guns.”
Gioia said the joint shelter-in-place order issued on March 16 by Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties clearly deemed gun stores non-essential.
A check on the status of 75 gun stores in 17 Northern California counties by this news organization found at least 32 were either fully open for business or allowing customers to come in and pick up weapons that had already been ordered. At least 12 were closed. The status of the others was unclear.
Stores were open in Pleasant Hill, Antioch, Brentwood and El Cerrito in Contra Costa County, Fremont in Alameda County, and Pacifica in San Mateo County. Gioia said the Contra Costa stores would be closed.
In Marin County, the owner of Marin Firearms recorded a phone answering machine message saying the store was ordered to close: “We were forced to shut down the store. We tried to stay open.”
Early last week San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo quickly deemed gun stores in that city to be non-essential after Bullseye Bishop stayed open after the Santa Clara County had ordered a shelter in place. The police visited the shop and ordered it to close.
The issue began getting more attention Tuesday when Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva called gun stores non-essential and ordered his deputies to make sure they closed, citing safety concerns. Shelter-in-place orders were not permission “for everyone to be panic gun-buying or rushing to stores,” the Associated Press reported.
But late Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Counsel, Mary Wickham, issued a written opinion that gun stores are essential.
Villanueva then reversed his order to enforce closures, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. But later Wednesday, after Newsom’s news conference, the sheriff appeared to leave the door open on enforcement, tweeting that the governor had confirmed that “the sheriff has the authority to enforce his executive order and keep the public safe during this pandemic.”
Kris Brown, president of the gun control group Brady, said pandemic calls for extraordinary measures.
“They are temporary orders to address an emergency situation. There is no constitutional right to purchase a firearm immediately and, during this time where there are legitimate public safety concerns, all rights are balanced against competing interest in public safety and security,” Brown said.
At the Antioch Armory, a small gun store across the street from city hall, on Wednesday morning, a sign taped to a window said 10 customers were allowed in at time.
Staff members were wearing masks and gloves. One was showing a handgun to a man and woman, racking its slide several times, the gun making a distinct, loud click each time.
Asked if the store was flouting the county’s shelter-in-place order by being open, the owner, Mike Yow, declined to answer.
At the Black Dog Armory in Fremont, owner Chuck Cunningham said he has stayed open because he believes the business is essential, saying “it was my choice to.”
People are buying weapons because they want to “protect the family,” he said, because of fears of looting. “Some people who don’t have heart, or a good soul, tend to do bad things.”
Cunningham said he would close the store if ordered, but that he had not heard from city or county officials.
“We just do not have the capacity to go door to door and check on every business. We have thousands of businesses in the city,” said Geneva Bosques, Fremont police spokesperson. Black Dog Armory was “not on our radar.” She said the city will now investigate.
Last week, the Alameda County sheriff’s office closed down a Castro Valley gun store that stayed open after the shelter-in-place order was issued. Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesperson for the office said Wednesday that it’s up to individual cities like Fremont to enforce the county order.
A Second Amendment advocate called for the stores to stay open.
“There is no doubt that gun shops are an essential business. The right to keep and bear arms is not one relegated for sunny days, it is a hedge against the unthinkable,” said Matthew Larosiere, director of legal policy for the Sacramento-based Firearms Policy Coalition.
Kelly disagreed.
“Our interpretation is that they are non-essential,” he said. “Is a food store or a pharmacy or a laundry vital to fighting the coronavirus? I think they are. I don’t think you can say that about a gun store.”
Staff writer John Woolfolk contributed to this story
