LA sheriff clashes with county lawyer over closing gun shops

[HeartachesNhangovers]

4. The most surprising thing about this story is that

the LA County Counsel actually ruled in favor of gun-sellers in one of the most gun-hostile municipalities around.

But you're right, rather than have law enforcement define "essential", the governor's office - the issuer of the executive order - should clarify. This is just laziness or cowardice on the part of the governor's office.

As to the sheriff ignoring the County Counsel, there is probably no legal mechanism to force the Sheriff to comply because the Counsel is issuing a legal opinion, not a court order. If a court ruled that the gun stores could not be closed under the executive order, then the Sheriff would be bound to comply.

Of course, the fact that the County Counsel said that the closure order doesn't apply to gun-sellers means that the Sheriff's contrary action are likely to be contested in court, and assuming that an attorney knows more about the law than a sheriff, the Sheriff is likely to lose and then be bound by a court order.