Trump Defends 2nd Amendment During COVID, Declares Gun Sellers 'Critical Infrastructure'

In order to try to mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus, many states and localities have imposed strict measures that include the mandatory closure of businesses that aren’t deemed “essential” to the continuation of a functioning society.

In some Democrat-run jurisdictions around the country, the “nonessential” label was applied to retail stores that sold firearms and ammunition, as well as manufacturing facilities that produce guns and ammo.

The effort to force the closure of gun stores in certain locations was widely viewed as a sort of gun-control end-run around the Second Amendment and a partisan attempt to restrict the citizenry’s access to firearms and ammunition.

In response to those subversive efforts to undermine the Constitution and deny Americans access to a fundamental right, President Donald Trump’s administration stepped in and updated federal guidelines that are heavily relied upon by state and local governments in a time of crisis to protect gun stores and manufacturers.

On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published a memorandum with an updated list of businesses and workers who should be deemed “essential” to maintaining “critical infrastructure” across the nation.

“This list is intended to help State, local, tribal and territorial officials as they work to protect their communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security,” CISA Director Christopher Krebs wrote in the memo.

A section of the memo labeled “Law Enforcement, Public Safety, and Other First Responders” includes “workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges.”

In other words, at least in the view of DHS and the Trump administration, gun and ammunition producers and retailers are considered essential to maintaining a functioning society and should therefore be allowed to remain open during a national emergency like the current public health crisis.

This is great news and simply underscores the fact that Trump and his administration have taken seriously the need to protect the Second Amendment from those who would seek to sidestep or deliberately undermine it.

It isn’t difficult to imagine that, had this same coronavirus crisis occurred under the administrations of former President Barack Obama, a hypothetical “President” Hillary Clinton, or even potential future President Joe Biden, gun manufacturers and retailers would almost certainly have not been deemed essential and those administrations would not have addressed state and local efforts to shut down gun stores and the firearms industry more broadly.

Of course, as great as this news may be, it isn’t a panacea to protect against the incessant anti-gun efforts of the left, and some states and localities may indeed press forward with attempts to shut down the firearms industry.

The memo noted in boldface that “This list is advisory in nature. It is not, nor should it be considered, a federal directive or standard.“

“Individual jurisdictions should add or subtract essential workforce categories based on their own requirements and discretion.“

While some jurisdictions may choose to ignore the inclusion of gun stores and producers in the “essential” category, the vast majority will likely do as is typically done and follow along with federal guidelines in a time of crisis. 

Furthermore, the inevitable lawsuits that will arise against jurisdictions that close down gun shops will have a strong case to make by citing this federal memo in addition to making constitutional arguments.

Hopefully, those lawsuits will prove unnecessary and Democrat-run jurisdictions will back away from their intended infringements of the Second Amendment.

America currently has a president who respects that right to keep and bear arms — which includes the right of access to arms and ammunition — and, ideally, the nation will vote in November to keep the Second Amendment protected for another four years.