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How A Virus Might Remake California Gun Laws

The state of California has long been known as the most anti-gun state in the nation. In fact, the level of gun control the state imposes on its citizens is downright draconian. In this regard, in particular, California doesn’t look remotely like a free nation. Mostly because it’s not. Due to the level of gun control, Californians might as well consider themselves subjects rather than citizens.

However, things might actually start to change, and it’s all because of Covid-19.

Now, this is pure speculation, but it’s educated speculation, so bear with me.

When things started getting harry, a lot of people started stocking up on supplies. There’s been the famous run on toilet paper, but it wasn’t alone. A Friday trip to the grocery stores here in town found that people were also stocking up on meat and produce–oddly leaving canned goods alone for some reason.

Scenes like that played out all over the nation, but one of the starkest reminders of what we’re dealing with came from California. While people were lining up for paper products, Californians were lining up to get into their local gun stores. It was kind of an unreal scene for a state that has done whatever it can to discourage gun ownership.

Yet when times got tense, what did many Californians do? They went to get a gun.

It’s unlikely that they’ll forget what they had to deal with in order to buy that gun once the emergency passes. It’s unlikely they’ll forget the tense 10-day waiting period while they prayed they wouldn’t need the gun. They’re not going to let the memory of the meager selection of handguns or self-defense rifles slip from their minds.

Oh no, they’ll remember all of it. They’ll remember it and likely start to reevaluate all those gun control laws they may have supported. Oh, sure, they may have thought they’d help keep guns out of criminals’ hands, but when it really mattered, it only kept a gun out of theirs.

They’ll think about how for 10 days, they sat and waited and prayed they weren’t locked down in some kind of quarantine, desperately praying that nothing happened as they waited. More importantly, they hoped no one would come for them or their supplies knowing damn good and well they didn’t have a gun.

Frankly, a lot of Americans are finding out that much of what they thought they knew about guns wasn’t right. They’re seeing the real effects of the gun control laws so many of them thought were essential. Basically, they’re finding out that we were right, that these laws do nothing to inhibit the criminals but plenty to trip up the good guys and keep them unarmed as long as possible without outright denying them their Second Amendment rights.

Covid-19 is a pretty nasty little bug, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that one of its most significant casualties will be the gun control policies in places like California. If it is, then the virus may actually save more lives than it will claim when the counting is all finished.