Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s efforts to close all gun stores in the county have been suspended pending Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) reconsideration of what constitutes an “essential business.”

On March 24, 2020, Fox 11 reported Villanueva’s order to close gun stores.

The sheriff attempted to justify the store closures by intimating that all the first-time gun buyers emerging amid the coronavirus crisis create a perilous situation: “I’m a supporter of the 2nd amendment, I’m a gun owner myself, but now you have the mixture of people that are not formerly gun owners and you have a lot more people at home and anytime you introduce a firearm in a home, from what I understand from CDC studies, it increases fourfold the chance that someone is gonna get shot.”

On March 25, 2020, the Los Angles Times reported that Villanueva’s effort to close gun stores was halted by news that Newsom would be rethinking whether such stores fell under the “essential business” protections.

LA County Sheriff’s Dept. Enforcement efforts to close non-essential businesses have been suspended. CA Gov. Gavin Newsom to determine what qualifies as a non-essential business. Please click to view story https://t.co/HrRD8VKcUG — Alex Villanueva (@LACoSheriff) March 25, 2020

Breitbart News reported on Villanueva’s gun store closure order, pointing to the Fox 11 report showing that the sheriff’s effort coincided with his release of 1,700 inmates.

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.