Fred Guttenberg lost a daughter in the Parkland shooting. Since then, he’s been an outspoken gun control advocate. Yesterday, during an online Biden campaign rally, Guttenberg betrayed the hysterical desperation that’s been sweeping through the gun control industry as a result of hundreds of thousands of first-timers buying guns since the COVID-19 emergency started.
Guttenberg went on to say that gun stores are contributing to the pandemic and selling to people who are not legally allowed to buy or own firearms, though he did not offer evidence of either claim.
“You have crowds showing up around these gun stores not only spreading coronavirus, but they’re buying weapons, or they’re buying ammunition,” he said. “And many of them are prohibited purchasers of weapons, or they already have the weapon, and now they’re running out and buying the ammunition to use it.”
Gun stores and all federally licensed dealers are required to run federal background checks on all gun sales they conduct. Those checks are designed to ensure that licensed dealers do not sell firearms to people prohibited from having them under federal and state law. Despite Guttenberg’s claim, there has been no evidence that gun stores—which have remained open in most states—are a significant source of new infections. Many that have remained open adopted social distancing and sanitation practices similar to other “essential” businesses. Everytown, where Guttenberg is a member of its Survivors Network, did not respond to request for comment.
– Stephen Gutowski in Biden Would Shut Down Gun Stores Amid Pandemic, Surrogate Says