Should gun shops be considered ‘essential’ businesses? Not all Texas counties agree.
Gun sales have stopped in several Texas counties that have deemed gun stores as non-essential businesses during COVID-19 local emergency declarations, but some shops are still open and most continue selling firearms online.
Tarrant County officials issued an order Saturday to close down all non-essential businesses to the public. The essential business summary did not include gun shops, but Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said they can continue to sell guns as long as they process the orders offsite and customers only show up to pick up their merchandise.
“We’re not treating gun shops any different than other retail stores,” said Whitley, “They can order online, they can go in, they can go to the front desk, pay for it and leave.”
Dan Boykin, owner of Advantage Firearms in northeast Fort Worth, said he closed after reading about the essential business summary on a news outlet Monday. He’s been taking orders online but said the waiting period for distributors that fill those orders has gone from one day to nearly two weeks.
Academy Sports and Outdoors in Fort Worth was closed Wednesday morning and they were not taking online orders, according to their employees, who were instructed to stop all gun sales.
One store manager said orders made online were being canceled once they were received at their store and customers who made their orders before the ban would have to wait until after the ban was lifted to pick up their orders.
Gun shops open
In some neighboring counties also with declarations of local disaster and shelter-at-home orders, gun shops haven’t closed to the public.
Parker County issued a public health emergency Monday that did not include gun stores as essential businesses, but some stores kept their doors open.
“I don’t think there is any crisis big enough to take away people’s Second Amendment right,” said Austin Kincaid, store manager at SOS Arms in Weatherford.
Jose Gonzalez, a phone broker at Uncle Dan’s Pawn in South Dallas, said they were an essential business and had nearly sold out of guns Wednesday morning. Most counties in Texas including Dallas have hardware stores, which include pawn shops, in their list of essential retail.
Judge Whitley in Tarrant County said that if a store falls under the essential list but sells other items, including guns, they can continue to open to the public and sell any item in the store.
At least 18 counties had issued stay-at-home orders as of Wednesday. Gun shops were closed in the cities of Austin, Waco and Lubbock, and Tarrant, Dallas, Travis and Bexar counties, according to the Texas State Rifle Association.
The state’s opinion
In a recent email to their members, the association argued that banning the sale of guns could be a violation of the state firearms preemption law.
“During an emergency, food, water, shelter and adequate medical care are paramount for survival, but so too is the ability of an individual to protect his or herself, as well as their family, home, business and property,” reads the letter.
State Representative Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), Chairman of the Texas House Committee on Ways & Means, formally requested an opinion Monday from Attorney General Ken Paxton on whether cities or counties can prohibit the sale of firearms.
Burrows’ letter claims that Texas’ state firearms preemption law restricts city and county officials from regulating the sale and transfer of firearms even during a natural disaster.
