By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Attorneys representing several major gun rights organizations in a federal civil rights lawsuit in California have filed a revised complaint, expanding the list of defendants to include the City of Los Angeles and Mayor Eric Garcetti, and the City of Burbank and City Manager Justin Hess.
In addition, more plaintiffs have been added to the complaint. The case is known as Brandy, et al v. Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, et al.
The legal action was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Joining in the lawsuit are the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), National Rifle Association (NRA), California Gun Rights Foundation (CGF), and Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), plus three retailers and several private citizens. They are represented by attorneys George M. Lee, San Francisco; John W. Dillon, Carlsbad, and Raymond M. DiGuiseppe, Southport, NC.
The lawsuit challenges closures of gun stores and shooting ranges, and states, “Shuttering access to arms, the ammunition required to use those arms, and the ranges and education facilities that individuals need to learn how to safely and competently use arms, necessarily closes off the Constitutional right to learn about, practice with, and keep and bear those arms. By forcing duly licensed, essential businesses to close or eliminate key services for the general public, government authorities are foreclosing the only lawful means to buy, sell, and transfer firearms and ammunition available to typical, law-abiding individuals in California. Such a prohibition on the right to keep and bear arms is categorically unconstitutional.”
The amended filing comes after an eventful weekend during which the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security issued a memorandum on “Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers during COVID-19 Response.” It was issued by Christopher C. Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and specifically notes that “Workers supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors, and shooting ranges” are now considered essential.
“Thanks to new guidance detailing essential critical infrastructure workers that was released Saturday, we have amended our federal complaint,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The Coronavirus outbreak does not outrank the rights guaranteed and protected by the Second Amendment.”
California officials had decided that gun shops and shooting ranges are not “essential” and have ordered retail firearms businesses to close during the continuing Coronavirus emergency. The plaintiffs seeking a declaratory judgment that firearm and ammunition manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers and shooting ranges are essential. They also ask for a preliminary and permanent restraining order.
