Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) is counting gun stores as non-essential and keeping them closed despite the Trump administration’s guidelines to the contrary.
Breitbart News reported the guidelines, released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), went public on March 28, 2020.
Those guidelines listed as essential “workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges.”
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) and Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) reversed course on aspects of their statewide closure orders after the DHS guidelines were released, allowing gun stores to reopen. But Massachusetts Governor Baker continues to reject labeling gun stores as essential in his state.
His latest list of COVID-19 “Essential Services” includes “workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, importers, and distributors,” but retailers are not on the list. This means guns and ammunition can continue to be manufactured in Massachusetts, they simply cannot be sold to residents of the state once manufactured.
MassLive reports Governor Baker’s “Essential Services” list contained “gun retailers” for a few hours, Tuesday to Wednesday, then retailers were “quietly” removed, thereby keeping gun stores closed.
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.
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