From Josh Blackman:

Constitutional litigation over the Second Amendment has followed a familiar pattern. In the decade since Heller and McDonald, countless cases have turned on a foundational question: how much danger does the weapon pose? But in 2020, the courts were suddenly presented with a novel constitutional question: how much danger does obtaining the weapon pose? During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments enacted complete prohibitions on the acquisition of firearms. Willing buyers were ready to comply with all extant gun-control regulations. But these governments shuttered firearm stores completely. These policies were adopted not to stop the sale of guns but to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. In short order, these governments deemed the Second Amendment as “non-essential.”