Gun stores and firearms customers are suing Gov. Charlie Baker over his shutdown of firearms sales amid the coronavirus pandemic, leaving no recourse for locals to buy a gun and potentially harming small businesses.

The lawsuit filed Thursday in the federal court in Boston also names state public health and criminal justice officials and local chiefs of police for enforcing the order on April 2, denying customers pickup of guns they purchased days earlier.

“I’m a small business owner, we survive month to month,” Chris Kielty of Precision Point Firearms in Woburn told the Herald Thursday. “This industry has very small margins and profits, because we are competing with other local shops and more importantly the online industry that sells at small margins, offers free shipping and doesn’t have sales tax.”

The lawsuit also cites a “most acute” need for personal self-defense during widespread quarantines, when law enforcement may not be readily available and as criminal offenders are released from custody or less likely to be arrested.

A spokesman for Baker declined to comment on the suit Thursday.

Police chiefs, with the power to suspend or revoke gun store licenses, are also named in the suit for enforcing the shutdown order.

At Shooting Supply in Westport, police allegedly blocked the gun retailer’s parking lot and threatened to arrest a customer who arrived to pick up a handgun purchased days earlier if he did not leave.

David Lantagne, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, purchased a handgun from the Sig Sauer Academy in New Hampshire on April 3 and was notified earlier this week by Precision Point Firearms in Woburn he could not pick up his gun because of Baker’s shutdown, according to the suit.

Gun retailers were not listed as “essential” businesses in a Baker order late last month, before the decision was briefly reversed on March 31 but rescinded again on April 2 once again closing gun retailers.

Attorney Jason Guida said Baker’s orders are hypocritical insofar as a citizen can go to a retailer to purchase nonessential items such as a video game but not a firearm to protect their home and family.

Kielty said the orders from Baker have been confusing and the state did not reach out to gun stores for input before implementing the order.

“We were already practicing taking appointments only,” Kielty said. “We were concerned with everyone’s safety along with ours.”