Leave it to the NRA to use coronavirus as a gun-rights marketing gimmick. That takes gall

The National Rifle Association needs to take off its blinders.

The NRA has a one-track mind, and that thinking is leading us down a dangerous path.

If ever there was a time to call a truce in the toxic battle over gun rights, this is it.

Coronavirus is the only enemy that matters now, and we should all be concentrating on winning that war.

Instead, the NRA is using the pandemic not only to further inflame its followers, but also to make a shameless push for donations in these “unprecedented times.”

“Every dollar counts,” it tells its supporters.

Here’s one of the ways it’s using those dollars:

Last week, the NRA sued Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The suit demands that gun stores be deemed “essential,” which would allow them to remain open during the pandemic.

Newsom hasn’t taken a position one way or the other; he’s left it up to individual counties to decide whether gun shops are essential businesses.

Villanueva has flip-flopped; he ordered gun retailers to shut down last week, though he has since reversed that decision.

On the local front, San Luis Obispo County also is letting gun shop remain open — provided they can maintain social distancing — so there’s no chance it will be dragged into this lawsuit.

Normally, that would be good news.

Not this time. Our sheriff, Ian Parkinson, took it upon himself to decide that gun shops could reopen, after an initial order from the county Health Services Department ordered them shuttered.

As we said before, Parkinson made a bad call.

Guns, panic and the coronavirus are a terrible combination.

Instead of facilitating this gun-buying frenzy, officials should be advising people to stay calm and abide by sheltering restrictions, while reinforcing the message that capable first responders are still out there, ready to keep the peace and enforce distancing requirements.

This idea that law-abiding citizens need to arm up to protect themselves from widespread looting and pillaging is simply not true.

That narrative is flat-out ludicrous and is nothing more than craven fear-mongering. It also shows very little faith in the Sheriff’s Office and all of our local police departments.

The fact is, threats to your home or person are not rising. Statistics show crimes of violence are actually down in many jurisdictions.

Instead, law enforcement is seeing an uptick in financial scams. Shysters are taking advantage of the COVID-19 crisis by price gouging, peddling bogus cures and hyping dubious investment opportunities.

Some communities also are seeing an increase in domestic violence calls — another reason bringing guns into homes is a bad idea.

Yet the NRA would have us believe guns are more essential now than ever.

As always, facts prove otherwise.

On average, 100 Americans die every day due to gun violence and 200 are wounded, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Guns pose a special risk to children ages 5 to 14, who are “11 times more likely to be killed with a gun in the U.S. compared to other developed countries,” according to Vox.

And Americans are 10 times more likely to die by gun suicide than people in other wealthy countries, according the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

That’s a real concern right now, with the economy in crisis, thousands of people losing their jobs and stay-at-home orders making it tougher to connect with family and friends.

The risk is not mere speculation. Between 2008 and 2010 — the first years of the Great Recession — the suicide rate increased sharply over previous years, according to an article in The Lancet, a medical journal.

If the NRA were truly interested in the welfare of American citizens, it would urge its followers to hunker down, follow orders of local authorities and consider donating to organizations that are trying to save lives.

If that’s too much to ask, it should at least stop its legal grandstanding and let our public officials do their jobs.

The gun lobby will have plenty of time to pursue its agenda once the coronavirus threat subsides.

The Sacramento Bee contributed to this editorial.

This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 1:07 PM.