A Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying group has sent an email blast to supporters, lamenting that “Some sheriffs around Washington State” are refusing to enforce provisions of gun control Initiative 1639, the billionaire-backed measure passed by about 60 percent of voters last November, but already being challenged in U.S. District Court on constitutional grounds.
“This is a travesty,” the email message states. “Sheriffs who refuse to implement I-1639 in full are putting lives in danger – and making a mockery of voters’ sensible demands for policies that keep deadly weapons out of dangerous hands.”
The message then declares that recipients must “send a strong message that law enforcement can’t pick and choose what laws to enforce.”
Conservatives, on the other hand, have been saying the same thing about liberal politicians that have declared their cities, counties and even entire states to be “sanctuaries” for illegal aliens, with orders to the same law enforcement professionals to not cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies that enforce immigration laws.
This comes on the heels of a vote down in Needles, Calif., by the city council to declare the community a “Second Amendment Sanctuary City.” That follows several county commissions in Washington State that have taken positions against the enforcement of I-1639.
Last week, according to Texas Scorecard, the Presidio County, Texas commission voted to make that county a “gun rights sanctuary.”
The article quoted County Sheriff Danny Dominguez asserting, “We have people in Washington trying to abolish the Second Amendment and take our rights away.”
In New Mexico, several county sheriffs are refusing to enforce gun control laws. Some lawmen in other states have also declined to enforce gun control laws in their jurisdictions, contending that the laws are unconstitutional. Gun control proponents argue this is a question for the courts, not the law enforcers, to decide.
Backlash against what has seemed like a major national push of gun control efforts at the local level has been simmering across the landscape over the past several months. Earlier this week, the Virginia General Assembly made very short work of a special session called by Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam’s to push his gun control agenda by exploiting the May 31 shooting of a dozen people in what was essentially a “gun-free zone” in Virginia Beach. Northam and the Democrats are hoping this helps change the power in the Assembly after this coming November’s elections, but if Old Dominion gun owners turn out en masse, they could make the difference in keeping Republicans in power, thus thwarting Northam’s anti-gun efforts.
Second Amendment rights are likely to play a major part in the 2020 election cycle. Gun owners are awakening to the extreme rhetoric from presidential hopefuls such as Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, and were delighted when anti-gun California Congressman Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race earlier this week.
With the National Rifle Association appearing to be in tumult, the gun prohibition movement has energized, apparently believing that this is the time to strike. However, with lawmen vocally and visibly taking sides with American gun owners, instead of achieving their goals, gun control advocates may be heading for a collision with the Constitution.
It raises the question about whether these sheriffs, in several states, might know something that anti-gunners don’t.
RELATED:
‘NRA On Its Heels’ Says Gun Control Group as VA Guv’s Gun Session Looms
