Sniper 6,372 Posted January 21, 2022 This should also apply to NJ and any other state where gun stores were forced to close during the pandemic. Remember, our governor was asked if the shutdowns were constitutional, and he responded, "I wasn't thinking about the Bill of Rights, and it's above my paygrade." ...."SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Two California counties violated the Constitution’s right to keep and bear arms when they shut down gun and ammunition stores in 2020 as nonessential businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. Officials in Los Angeles and Ventura counties had separately won lower court decisions saying gun stores were not exempt from broader shutdown orders aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus early in the pandemic. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected both lower court rulings. The Second Amendment “means nothing if the government can prohibit all persons from acquiring any firearm or ammunition,” Judge Lawrence VanDyke wrote. “But that’s what happened in this case.” Because buyers can obtain guns only by personally going to gun stores in California, Ventura County’s 48-day closure of gun shops, ammunition shops and firing ranges “wholly prevented law-abiding citizens in the County from realizing their right to keep and bear arms,” he wrote. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-court-decisions-eric-garcetti-e0fda8d0abe484629beeaf9eb86a4a08 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HBecwithFn7 296 Posted January 21, 2022 I've heard a 3 judge panel of the 9th circuit just overturned this... https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/01/20/9th-circuit-court-gun-store-covid-shutdowns-violated-constitution/ At least, for a little while, until it goes "en banc" and they re-instate it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sniper 6,372 Posted January 21, 2022 NJ was one of these states. Can the gun dealers go back and sue the state for lost business during the shut downs: ....."The decision holds that governments “cannot use a crisis to trample on the constitutional rights of citizens,” said Michael Jean, director of the National Rifle Assn.’s Office of Litigation Counsel that sued in the Los Angeles County case. It also sued Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties over their restrictions in Northern California, but the last three were dismissed from the lawsuit when they repealed their orders. Similar restrictions were imposed in 10 other states, according to the Firearms Policy Coalition, another gun owners’ rights groups that sued: Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina and Virginia." 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites