Born and raised in the state where the first battles of the American Revolution began over gun confiscation, I find Massachusetts’ Republican governor’s anti-gun rights actions reprehensible. Governor Charlie Baker decided that businesses that make possible Americans’ ability to exercise their rights under the Second Amendment are “non-essential” and ordered them to close. Yes, folks, a Republican.

Oddly enough, the Bay State’s top politician has allowed gun manufacturers to remain open. How does he reconcile these two decisions? Who knows? He actually, as Boston.com reported, included gun shops and shooting ranges as essential for a heartbeat, then changed his mind. But retail firearms dealers must close.

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Some gun store owners are refusing, however. Like a patriot I’ve written about, Tiffany Teasdale of Lynnwood Gun and Ammo in Washington State (where I now live), John Costa of the Gunrunner in Middleboro, Massachusetts is remaining open despite the governor’s decree.

The Boston Globe is reporting, because of the governor’s order, gun shops are suing Governor Baker to remain open. So, it’s come to this. Americans have to ask their governors for permission to exercise their gun rights, and by extension their God-given rights to self-defense.

The right to keep and bear arms necessarily has to have manufacturing, supply chain, and sales components. If not, how would most Americans get the arms they have a right to keep and bear?

Use the guns they already have, folks like the governor might say. Well, what about people who don’t have guns but want them, especially in these uncertain times with strained law enforcement resources and criminals being released? What about the person without a firearm who’s turning 18, or 21, depending on the firearm they intend to purchase? What happens to their right to bear arms? Or is that not important?

But the gun folks are not alone in suing the governor. High Times reports the commonwealth’s recreational marijuana businesses are also suing Governor Baker because he has deemed them non-essential as well. While I have no problem with any businesses beginning to reopen, pot shops aren’t in the same category as gun shops. Last I checked, people don’t have the right to keep and smoke pot. Although, marijuana enthusiasts might find a bit of wiggle room for their argument in the right to the pursuit of happiness.

Either way, with surfers being fined, ex-state troopers being handcuffed while playing catch with their six-year-old daughters, and drones flying over crowds in Florida warning folks about social distancing restrictions, isn’t it time to look for a balanced approach to re-open all businesses in the United States?

Between the gun shops and marijuana dispensaries suing Governor Baker, who has the better argument?