Post by Graveyardbride on Mar 15, 2019 23:11:01 GMT -5
North Carolina County Declares Itself ‘Gun Sanctuary’
A sparsely-populated mountain county in North Carolina has declared itself a “gun sanctuary county” and intends to defy attempts by federal or state government to enforce gun control measures. Cherokee County (above), the county seat of which is Murphy, passed the three-page resolution with a 3-2 vote, after its author, Dan Eichenbaum, informed his fellow commissioners the “first thing dictators do is confiscate guns.”
Among the provisions thereof is a warning that Cherokee County “will not authorize or appropriate government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers or offices for the purpose of enforcing ... laws, orders, mandates, rules or regulations that infringe on the right by the people to keep and bear arms.”
Cherokee is North Carolina’s western-most county, bordering Georgia and Tennessee and boasting a population of 27,000.
Backers of the resolution contend it’s the first time one of North Carolina’s 100 counties has declared itself a gun sanctuary, which is a growing, but primarily symbolic, movement that began in the Western states.
Reaction to the resolution on social media has been overwhelmingly supportive, with many noting it is no different than other North Carolina counties (e.g., Mecklenburg and Wake) declaring they won’t support federal immigration agents in detaining undocumented immigrants.
“It means we get to keep our guns, regardless of what those in Washington say,” Karen D. Mizell posted on Facebook.
“It means that we the people refuse to have our natural right to self-protection and preservation stolen by a tyrannical government full of liberal crybabies that have armed guards for their families but don’t want us to have a shotgun to protect ours,” Jessica Standring commented.
“It means God says you can carry,” added Donna Lussier Barone.
Critics who dared speak up on social media largely complained the resolution was needlessly wordy and a few said they wished commissioners “felt as strongly about healthcare for everyone.”
Cherokee County Commissioner C.B. McKinnon shared the full text of the resolution on Facebook the day after it passed and later posted his thoughts on why it’s needed. “People are recognizing the threats to this nation,” he wrote. “Without armed citizens, our nation will not stand. Only the ... 2nd Amendment and patriots can protect the Constitution. People, not government, upholds our Constitution and way of life.”
More than two dozen counties and even a few cities in Western states have adopted similar sanctuary resolutions, reported the Alamogordo Daily News in New Mexico on March 13. However, when the city of Alamogordo declared itself a gun sanctuary city this week, Mayor Richard Boss admitted the move was merely symbolic. “Our police force is going to have to enforce the laws of the state of New Mexico,” he conceded
The Pacific Standard reports similar resolutions have been adopted in multiple states (e.g., New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Illinois) where there is a “widening gulf between the state’s rural and metropolitan populations.” New Mexico Sheriff Tony Mace of Cibola County told The Standard the movement was inspired by those governments that have chosen to shield illegal aliens from deportation. “They’re picking and choosing which laws they want to follow,” he said.
Whether gun sanctuary resolutions are Constitutional has yet to be decided by the courts. In Madison County, Illinois, voters decided last fall to become a gun sanctuary, despite warnings from some county board members that the measure “violates the principles of what ... our country is founded on.” Board member Bruce Malone was one of the dissenters, saying “We’re in danger of destroying the basic fabrics of a representative democracy by saying we can decide what’s Constitutional or what isn’t.”
Cherokee County’s March 4 resolution has yet to draw public attention from state officials.
As for the opinions of gun control advocates who might point to mass killings across the world, Cherokee County added the following clause: “The criminal misuse of firearms is due to the fact that criminals do not obey laws and this is not a reason to abrogate or abridge the unalienable, Constitutionally-guaranteed rights of law-abiding citizens.”
Sources: Mark Price, The Charlotte Observer, March 15, 2019, and Paulina Dedaj, Fox News, Marach 15, 2019.