Members of Congress Call on Homeland Security to Drop Gun Shops from Essential Business List

Washington, April 9, 2020 Members of Congress today called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to remove gun retailers and manufacturers from the list of essential businesses in its guidance to local and state officials in containing the spread of COVID-19. Firearm distributors provide no proven public health benefit, and in fact, the proliferation of guns pose added safety threats to communities.

Washington DC –  Members of Congress today called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to remove gun retailers and manufacturers from the list of essential businesses in its guidance to local and state officials in containing the spread of COVID-19. Firearm distributors provide no proven public health benefit, and in fact, the proliferation of guns pose added safety threats to communities.

“No reputable public health expert would urge local leaders to add more firearms to a mix of public anxiety and the swelling economic and mental health stress that this global pandemic has ushered in. It is an absurd and dangerous idea that only a gun lobby could hatch,” said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23), who led the letter. “We need to make our communities safer. This essential business advisory does the opposite. We cannot shoot this virus. Defeating COVID-19 requires bolstering our health systems and diligent social distancing and sanitation measures. The National Rifle Association already unleashed a gun violence health menace on this nation, we should not allow gun lobbyists to make this unfolding viral health pandemic any worse.”

On March 28, 2020, The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published an “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce” advisory list to help State, local, tribal and territorial officials ensure that a continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the workers included in that, were those supporting the operation of firearm or ammunition product manufacturers, retailers, importers, distributors and shooting ranges. Members wrote DHS today to ask that all firearm-related business categories be removed from its critical infrastructure list.

“The battle against this pandemic is being fought in homes and hospitals across our nation, we call on the Department of Homeland Security to listen to the research and not exacerbate this already dire situation by keeping gun and ammunition retailers on the list of essential businesses,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf delivered today. “Public health experts, not the National Rifle Association, should guide our efforts to combat COVID-19.”

Among the Members signing the letter: Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (FL-20); Rep. Bobby Rush (IL-01); Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-18); Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-03); Rep. James P. McGovern (MA-02); Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13); Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (CA-32); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09); Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (VA-11); Rep. Jerry McNerney (CA-09); Rep. Julia Brownley (CA-26); Rep. Katherine Clark (MA-05); Rep. Lois Frankel (FL-21); Rep. Robin L. Kelly (IL-02); Rep. Don Beyer (VA-08); Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13); Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-08); Rep. Darren Soto (FL-09); Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26).