Why is it that conservative gun rights advocates always miss the point, thinking everyone is trying to take away their guns? Jim Fossel did this April 5 in his column, which denigrates Janet Mills and succeeds in politicizing something that was simply common sense.

I can see no connection between deeming gun shops non-essential, and the Second Amendment. Gun shops should be closed now, because folks tend to gather there to talk shop, share stories and shoot the breeze in a community environment, exactly what we are not supposed to be doing now.

Does Fossel also think that because churches are closed, we no longer have freedom of religion? Or because libraries are closed that books are now banned? We cannot go to gyms, barber shops, hair salons, furniture stores, etc. We can, however, still go to the hardware store, Walmart and Uncle Henry’s to buy a gun.

Janet Mills was not in any way infringing on anyone’s Second Amendment right to bear (or buy) arms by initially classifying gun shops as non-essential. She was trying to keep us safe from a deadly virus.

Never did Fossel make any realistic or valid statements about why gun shops should be considered “essential,” because they simply are not essential. Gov. Mills was right to close them.