The change has already prompted one state to reverse its previous order and reopen gun stores.

“It wouldn’t have been my definition, but that’s the definition at the federal level,” said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who supports gun restrictions. “I didn’t get a vote on that.”

The move shows that, even in the time of pandemics, politics still plays a role. As Americans settle into a new way of life, culture war battles have broken out over the Second Amendment, as well as abortion and voting rights. So far, though, President Donald Trump’s White House has intervened most directly on the question of gun purchases.

Trump came into the White House vowing to repay gun owners for their support in his 2016 election. He has talked from time to time about making changes in the wake of mass shootings, but by and large kept his word, siding with gun rights activists throughout his presidency.

The era of the coronavirus has proved no different.

Those who favor more firearm restrictions say they worry that a proliferation of guns during a crisis, especially among first-time buyers, will lead to more accidental shootings, domestic violence and suicide. Those who oppose any new restrictions said they were confident Trump would understand their constitutional right of self-defense in the case of social unrest.

Now that the White House has made its decision, it’s up to state leaders to determine whether to comply with the federal guidelines. Those on both sides of the debate think they will.

“We think other states will follow,” said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearm and ammunition industry, which led the lobbying effort.

Kris Brown, president of Brady, a group which supports increased firearms restrictions, said she fears governors will abide by the guidelines because of Trump’s threats to withhold aid from states that don’t support him, as well as worries they will be sued.

“There is no way politics isn’t playing a role in this,” Brown said. “I think the reality of going against this simply from a political standpoint would be calculated differently when you know the surge may hit you.”

The White House didn’t respond to questions about the decision.

Since the coronavirus outbreak, states and localities have issued their own orders about whether to close gun stores and shooting ranges, leading gun rights groups to file lawsuits and lobby the Trump administration.

Pennsylvania, for example, allowed gun shops to be open for business while Washington state shut them. In California, where it’s up to localities to decide, the Los Angeles County sheriff has ordered them to close. About half of the states based their order on the federal guidelines, according to the federal government.