Much like toilet paper and water bottles, firearms and ammunition are flying off the shelves in Riverside County, where gun stores are considered an essential business, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
In California’s updated stay-at-home order, Gov. Gavin Newsom left the distinction up to county sheriffs to determine whether gun stores should be considered necessary and allowed to remain open.
When firearm activists filed a federal lawsuit against the state Friday after Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva announced he would close gun shops in L.A., Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco sided with protesters and decided to keep gun shops there open.
“Not only do they seem to fit in the ‘essential’ category, closing them and denying people the right to own a handgun is an obvious violation of the 2nd Amendment,” Bianco said on Twitter in response to a resident’s question Friday.
Read the full story at LATimes.com.