KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
After gun sales skyrocketed in Southern California in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva declared on Monday that gun stores are non-essential businesses that will be forced to close.
“We will be closing them; they are not an essential function,” said Villanueva.
The decision comes as a part of an effort to get more Los Angeles County residents to follow the “Safer at Home” order currently in place, which requires all non-essential businesses to close and advises residents to avoid public or private gatherings of 10 or more people and to maintain social distancing recommendations of six feet of separation if residents have to go out in public, according to county officials.
Related: What Businesses Are Considered ‘Essential’ In L.A. County’s ‘Safer At Home’ Order?
“I’m a supporter of the 2nd amendment; I’m a gun owner myself,” said Villanueva. “But now you have the mixture of people that are not formerly gun owners and you have a lot more people at home, and any time you introduce a firearm in a home, from what I understand from CDC studies, it increases fourfold the chance that someone is going to get shot.”
Specific data on the size of the national sales spike is not expected to be available until next month, but preliminary numbers indicate that gun sales have soared since the coronavirus crisis began.
Already this year, background checks, required for the sale of a firearm, are up considerably over last year. According to data from the FBI, there was a 34 percent uptick in background checks through the universal FBI system in February, processing almost 3 million individual checks.
In addition to closing gun stores in L.A. County, Villanueva said he plans on doubling the number of deputies on patrol, adding 1,300 deputies to the current rotation.
As the county’s top law enforcement official, the sheriff is designated as the director of the Emergency Operations Center for the County of Los Angeles, meaning he is the No. 1 person in charge during a crisis like the coronavirus, according to officials.
All Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and National Guard requests for the county would go through Villanueva if such resources are required.
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Srf. Villanueva was voted in because of “ballot harvesting”!! The essentials of life is protecting our families! The Liberals, again, have their deceitful hands ruining what was a wonderful country!
He is determined to enable more of these perps (below) that were let out for social justice reasoning. Good job Sheriff. Thankfully your force still cares about crime, at least until you order them not to. Perhaps that is your next move.
https://www.hometownstation.com/santa-clarita-news/crime/armed-and-dangerous-suspect-involved-in-stevenson-ranch-armed-robbery-identified-319105
Why Sheriff Villanueva is trying to take my Second Amendment rights away? Protecting my family, property, and my self is essential.
Vote Sheriff Villanueva out, he does not represent our interests.
No one is taking away your Second Amendment rights. Gun owners had guns before this all this went down anyway. If you had one, then you still have it and no one took it from you. If you didn’t have one before now, then why all of the sudden the interest in buying one? You can’t shoot at the virus to protect yourself when its microscopic.
What the Sheriff is trying to prevent is wrongdoers from buying guns now so they can take advantage of closed stores and retail businesses, and no witnesses around, to commit crimes. It’s a public safety issue, get it?
People like you are as bad as the hoarders out there buying everything in sight and thinking it’s “my right!” Get outta here man…
Thank you law enforcement!
Just remember the events of the Rodney King riots. Where was the law enforcement to protect people? Yeah, nowhere to be found!
It appears to me that you are not old enough to remember those events. Are you? Perhaps a bottle of milk and chocolate chips will pacify you…
Preaching Rodney King events while condescending others for their views. It’s toxic behavior like this that needs to be remedied. Unfortunately, no one will ever take things seriously or learn from their mistakes, such as washing your hands and staying away from others during a pandemic. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I am old enough to remember the Rodney King riots, but thank you for your baseless assumption. And this COVID-19 situation is like the Rodney King riots in what way?
Criminals don’t buy guns and ammunition from stores they get it illegally. All this is doing is keeping legal citizens from stocking up on ammunition and case they need to protect their homes and families. I would have to challenge your IQ
What timeline are you from? So wrongdoers won’t buy them? How is a wrong doer going to buy one when there is already an overwhelming background check before anyone can buy one? And I was never aware that a person had to have a reason to buy a firearm? What’s your reason for asking such a question? Are you paranoid for law-abiding people making the choice to legitimately purchasing a firearm? Why don’t you just surrender yours if it’s so I portant to not own one for whatever reason?
Relax, it’s temporary.
This is the prequel and the introduction of ‘Revolución!’ which the dems just want so badly, so badly to occur …
Villanueva wants to protect the criminal illegal, and hinder the law abiding from purchasing firearms. Firearms which might be needed to protect the owner and their families in case of unrest .
And this guy is the top sheriff in town ???
Smh ..
So they release 1700 criminals from prison and ban citizens from buying firearms to protect themselves?
It sounds just like something Kalyforrnya would do…
Insanity by the Liberals lurks!! Thanks to the idiot progressives /Liberals with Prop. #47(Gascon) & 57 and AB 109, the scumbag criminals will be back on the streets to rape/rob/murder your husband, wife & children!! Look at Seattle to San Diego!!
Attention all 2A supporters. If you’re like most 2A folks you already have what you need. I don’t support the decision but I don’t mind the temporary inconvenience. If you’re a first time purchaser you’ll have every opportunity soon enough to catch up with all other 2A supporters. On the subject of non-essential is lawn service an essential service?
No, but gardners are outside and the proximity to others isn’t, the same . Being in an indoor business, like a beauty supply store or a gun store is different. People are in a confined space. It doesn’t, have to become a political argument, more like a public health issue.
Yes lawn service is essential. Who will maintain landscape? The cost of maintenance will go up if landscaping is not maintained. Gardeners work alone and outdoors. No virus risk to them or anyone else. I see no problem at all having them work. Sheriff Villanueva says if there is a gun in the home there is a chance someone will get shot. He is right. That person might be the one that is going to break into my home and rape my wife and kill us both because HE has a gun and I do not because of the store closure. The Sheriff will not be there to protect us. As many of us already know, it can take up to 20 minutes to ah hour for a Sheriff patrol car to show up after you call if they show up at all and for that reason I need all the protection I can get. With the recent release of over 1000 prisoners from jail, we need our guns more than ever. I agree with Jihad Bilia. Vote Villanuevea out on the next round.
Is everyone aware of AB3071, which is currently (but quietly) making its way through the CA Legislature? It will ban all lead-containing ammunition in California, including at shooting ranges. Not just the sale of such ammo, but the USE. If and when this passes you will not be allowed to shoot lead ammo you already have purchased. This will instantly put all shooting ranges out of business.
Folks on either side of the 2A issue want people to stay safe and prevent the spread of this virus. What the sherriff did was a political move from a political position in which he has to tow the line of his chain of comand insists he tow.
Proof in point. Under our constitution the right to bear arms ,,”shall not be infringed”. But, we all know that states are allowed to flex there will up to or untill there will is chalanged in court. So untill a lawsuit is filed, payed for and brought through the justice system it is what it is. And your tax money will continue to be used against you if your a 2A supporter.
Most reasonable folks can see the idiological bias of the county and the state on this issue. We could argue the merrits of both views but it wouldent be productive in this forum.
It is completely possible to keep a number of businesses open safely durring this “crises” with a comon sense approach. For instance, use a lottery system in which folks who want to purchase firearms or ammunition can order what they want from the business and fill out the paperwork by appointment and pick up orders by appointment. Just like ordering groceries for pick up at walmart. Or buying concert tickets on Ticketmaster.
I would argue that having access to firearms, ammo and other safety items associated with them ifrom a business is nessissary, at least as nessissary as the dry cleaner. auto mechanic shop or a host of other “essential businesses”.
Dare we see our elected official’s in jeans and tshirts.
With respect,
GOOD NEWS-This has been reversed.
Thanks to L.A. County Counsel Mary Wickham, this was challenged and rightfully overturned.
See https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2020-03-24/los-angeles-sheriff-gun-shops-not-essential-must-close
&
https://www.dailynews.com/2020/03/24/are-all-the-gun-stores-in-l-a-county-closing-vague-sheriffs-order-leaves-some-confusion/
Now, let’s stop the excessive paperwork & waiting to buy bullets—The criminals don’t!!