Recently, when anti-gunners argued against so-called “drive-through” gun purchasing efforts by gun stores to remain open while observing social distancing guidelines and still serve customers, there were contentions that it was easier to buy guns than fast food.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms immediately fired back that anyone who made that argument was someone whose “fries aren’t cooked.” The group contended that gun sales under a new ATF Guidance issued recently to address problems related to the COVID-19 crisis are being misrepresented. Anti-gunners are making it appear that it is easier to buy a firearm than fast food.
“I’d tell anybody who really believes it’s easier to buy a cheeseburger than a gun that his ‘fries aren’t cooked,’ and I’m not talking about food,” quipped CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “This is the kind of nonsense gun owners have been putting up with for years.”
CCRKBA’s sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, is now involved in a string of federal lawsuits filed against state and local officials in various jurisdictions who have forced gun stores to close under their “shelter in place” COVID-19 emergency orders.
ATF guidance issued April 10 allows federally-licensed dealers to conduct business “activities on any part of the business premises, including the exterior of the brick-and-mortar structure, provided, the activity otherwise complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations, and any sale, delivery, or disposition would not violate any State law or published ordinance applicable at the place of sale, delivery, or other disposition.”
“What that means is no firearms can be sold without full compliance with federal and state laws,” Gottlieb noted. “Suggesting that a transaction conducted outside of a business is any different or easier than one conducted inside the door is deliberately misleading. Anybody who believes such nonsense probably thinks a chili-dog and chocolate shake is health food.”
The gun prohibition lobby has portrayed these new guidelines as “drive-through gun sales.” Gottlieb said this is a false characterization, “and they know it.”
“For years,” he observed, “anti-gunners have perpetuated a myth about ‘easy access to guns,’ but lately, as many first-time gun buyers have learned, it’s not at all easy to buy a firearm, especially a handgun or semi-auto rifle. There is paperwork, a background check and a waiting period in most jurisdictions. You simply cannot walk into a gun store, give a clerk some money and walk out with a firearm. Thanks to the coronavirus scare, a lot of people have learned they’ve been lied to. It’s like being promised a three course dinner and getting a box lunch and a soda.”
