NRA Sues New York Over Gun-Store Crackdown
Second Amendment group challenges Cuomo's closure order
By Stephen Gutowski
Washington Free Beacon
April 3, 2020
The National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit against New York governor Andrew Cuomo (D.) on Thursday night in an effort to reopen gun stores closed by the emergency coronavirus shutdown.
Cuomo ordered all "nonessential" businesses to cease "in-office personnel functions" on March 22. He did not label gun businesses as "essential." Since federally licensed gun dealers are required by law to conduct in-person background checks for each sale, the order effectively closed gun stores in the state and cut off most legal gun sales. The NRA said the governor's shutdown order is an "assault" on "Second Amendment freedoms."
"There isn't a single person who has ever used a gun for self-defense who would consider it nonessential," Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president, said in a statement. "This is clearly another assault by Gov. Cuomo on the NRA, on the rights of New Yorkers to defend themselves and their families, and on our Second Amendment freedoms. The NRA will continue to fight all such attacks until Gov. Cuomo recognizes that constitutional rights are for every New Yorker and every American—and not just for politicians and their privileged friends."
The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment on the case. New York attorney general Letitia James (D.) vowed to fight the NRA in court.