At the end of February, my husband had open heart surgery and the background noise on the TV in the hospital was chatter about a pandemic. And just a few weeks later, we are in full blown crisis where people are dying by the thousands, hospitals are short of supplies and daily new controls are being instituted to try to protect us from getting or spreading this deadly epidemic. How could we be this unprepared?

Our governor has issued Executive Emergency Orders stating that only Essential Businesses are to be open, allowing for grocery stores and drugstores. We cannot go back to the hospital for our post op appointment. My kids cannot come to visit. Our library is closed. We have been asked to shelter in place, to leave only for food and prescriptions. But wait, Governor Sununu did not close gun stores? Gun stores are Essential Businesses? Corroborating my information, I reached out to the COVID-19 Business Resource. I emailed my question regarding Governor Sununu’s policy, as gun shops were not listed as either Essential or Non-Essential in the Executive Orders. The email reply from NH Business and Economic Affairs stated that gun shops could remain open if they do online sales or curb side pickup only. They are not open to the public. Curbside? I called several local gun shops to confirm this information. All of them were quite clear that, according to the ATF, it is illegal to sell firearms curbside. Their doors were indeed open to the public.

I understand that the NRA was the single biggest supporter of this administration. However, I want Governor Sununu to justify that reaffirming Second Amendment rights serves to protect us in any way from this virus! Sales on firearms have skyrocketed in the last couple of months. The background system has been overwhelmed with background checks.

You cannot shoot the virus away. Are we going to shoot someone who is sick? Or shoot someone who has grabbed the last roll of toilet paper in the supermarket? I am concerned that in these most unsettling of times, when we are coping with a base level of fear and anxiety, adding firearms to the equation is grossly irresponsible and unsafe. This is profit from fear. Fear divides us when our lives depend upon us working together to save our communities. We have to be on the same side to survive.

Unless you are a hunter and providing food for your family, I cannot think of one single instance where owning a gun can help provide safety to anyone dealing with this Pandemic.

Is there a way the gun manufacturers could instead be part of our solutions for health? Could they re-purpose a factory or two to produce much needed ventilators? Our current pressing goal, at which thousands of our neighbors are working hard and risking their lives, is to protect our health and safety. The State promulgating the sale of firearms at this time, tacitly underlining this as an essential business, runs counter to our current needs – to work together to foster our communities\\\’ health and safety. This is disappointing, and scary, and needs community action for change.