For 48 days in the spring of 2020, Ventura County, California, effectively prohibited the purchase of firearms or ammunition. It also barred people who already owned firearms from visiting gun ranges to hone their skills and prevented them from taking the steps necessary to obtain carry permits, which are legally required in California to exercise the right to bear arms outside the home. The county did all of this in the name of controlling COVID-19, although it simultaneously allowed many other activities that posed similar or greater risks of virus transmission.
Yesterday a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit unanimously ruled that Ventura County's decision to ban a wide range of firearm-related activities for a month and a half violated the Second Amendment. Applying essentially the same analysis in another case decided yesterday, the same panel ruled that Los Angeles County likewise violated the Second Amendment when it shut down gun stores for 11 days early in the pandemic.
