On March 21, 2020, USA Today fact checked Breitbart News’s report that New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) issued a coronavirus emergency order giving herself the power to ban the sale and transportation of firearms in the city.
The result of their fact check was that the Breitbart News report is true.
On March 16, 2020, Breitbart News reported that Mayor Cantrell had issued her order in two parts, over the course of less than a week. The end result was Cantrell claiming power to ban the sale and transportation of firearms and “suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation, of alcoholic beverages,” among other things.
USA Today reported that Breitbart had a “March 16…article claiming the executive order issued by New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell in response to the coronavirus allows the city to ban the transportation and sale of firearms.” They noted that some secondary outlets on Facebook grabbed Breitbart’s article and ran with it, resulting in “exaggerated versions of the claim circulated on the platform.”
However, USA Today found that Breitbart’s claim about Mayor Cantrell’s order is true, “New Orleans now has the power to suspend the sale and transportation of firearms.”
USA Today “contacted Cantrell’s office with multiple requests to comment but did not receive a response.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.