Readers Respond to Oregon Keeping Gun Shops Open: “We Have to Protect Our Toilet Paper”

“How was the decision that guns are sacrosanct arrived at? Really bad call, Kate.”

A protest for gun control at Portland City Hall in 2018. (Christine Dong)
By WW Staff

Last week, WW examined the decision by Gov. Kate Brown not to include Oregon's gun shops among the businesses that must close during the COVID-19 pandemic ("Why Is This Open? Gun Shops," April 1, 2020). A draft order by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler would have shuttered gun stores, but Brown avoided a culture war. Here's what readers had to say:

Don Mulconey, via Facebook: "Because people are scared. And if the shit really hits the fan, citizens have the constitutional right (any right) to defend themselves."

BetsyToll, via week.com: "She closed toy stores and strip clubs and bookshops and everything else. How was the decision that guns are sacrosanct arrived at? Really bad call, Kate."

John Koskela, via Facebook: "While it does seem contrary that a book store is closed and a gun store is open, keep in mind, the U.S. Constitution requires some freedoms to stay in place during a crisis. Saying this does not mean I am a gun-totin' gun nut. I'm just a regular citizen of the USA who believes the U.S. Constitution need not be abridged during a time like this."

Michaela Specht DeRosso, via Facebook: "There's nothing in the Constitution that says you have the right to sell guns. So, Gov. Brown should be able to just say: You have the right to have guns—but how you get them is not the state's problem. Right?"

Lance Cummins, via week.com: "She made the correct call. While I may not consider a gun store 'necessary,' it also doesn't matter one way or the other, and the fight that this would have caused would have served no purpose at all. Ted Wheeler should have recognized that."

Mark Lore, via Facebook: "Close the fuckers down like other businesses. It's just going to put even more guns into circulation and into the hands of paranoid, panicked people."

David R. Shapiro, via Facebook: "Kate Brown has done a good job through this pandemic. It's important for people to feel safe as well as self-reliant. Brown has kept the stoners stoned, the gun owners armed and the drinkers slaked. AND she did a solid for New York. I didn't like her much before COVID-19, but Kate Brown has been gaining approval in my little world."

Junior Alvarez, via Facebook: "We have to protect our toilet paper."

Letters to the editor must include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words.

Submit to: 2220 NW Quimby St., Portland, OR 97210.

Email: mzusman@wweek.com

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