Mayor Signs Order To Ban Gun Sales During Pandemic

Via American Action News:

Amid legitimate coronavirus concerns, the Mayor of New Orleans has gifted herself with the power to dilute the Second Amendment.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) signed a coronavirus emergency order last week that allows her, if she sees fit, to ban the sale and transportation of firearms.

But Cantrell’s declaration doesn’t end there.

Besides firearms, she has the authority to suspend the sale of explosives and combustibles.

For a growing number of Americans, it has become paramount to comply with the government’s restrictive actions to flatten COVID-19’s infection curve. But decrees that give elected officials such broad, dubious power has at least contributed to a spike in gun sales.

Per Time Magazine:

Also potentially driving the sales are concerns that elected officials may try to restrict access to firearms. A mayor in Illinois recently signed an executive order that would give her the right to ban the sale of guns or ammunition, as did the mayor of New Orleans.

Champaign, Illinois Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen (D) signed the executive order on March 12. Though surrounded by a sea of bright red counties, Champaign and neighboring Urbana is home to the University of Illinois. Few of Feinen’s constituents are likely to protest her move.  

However, the Second Amendment Foundation is threatening legal action.

Specific data on the size of the sales spike will not be available until next month. But already this year, background checks are up considerably over last year. According to data from the FBI, just over 5.5 million background checks were conducted in January and February combined.

Gun sales generally rise in an election year, as they did in 2016. But this past January and February have outpaced 2016 by nearly 350,000.

Betsy Terrell, a 61-year-old resident of Decatur, Georgia, said she thought for years about purchasing a handgun and decided to finally get one after seeing chaos at her local Costco, with long lines and people stockpiling goods. She feels the metro Atlanta area already has a lot of crime. She’s worried that if the economy tanks, crime will rise even more.