North Carolina County Officials Pass ‘Gun Sanctuary’ Resolution

A county in North Carolina passed a resolution declaring itself a “gun sanctuary county” on March 4.

Cherokee County officials said they will not accept federal or state funds provided to enforce gun control measures or implement anything that would “infringe on the right by the people to keep and bear arms as described.”

The resolution has some similarities to sanctuary city declarations, in that those cities refuse to enforce federal laws or cooperate with federal authorities to stop illegal immigration.

In this case, the county bases its determination on laws written into the U.S. Constitution. Cherokee County Commissioner C.B. McKinnon posted the resolution on Facebook. It cites numerous justifications for the move that looks not only at the U.S. Constitution but also at legal cases that have upheld such laws.

The resolution also discusses how gun violence should not inhibit the rights of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.

“Moreover, 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. The last protectors of the U.S. Constitution are We the People of the United States and our ability to fulfill that role successfully rests on our Second Amendment rights.”

Ultimately the resolution passed by a vote of 3-2. The dissenting voters to the resolution on the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners included Commission Chairman Hippie Westmoreland, who worried that the resolution might attract fugitives like Eric Rudolph, who was captured in the county in 2003. Dissenting Commissioner Cal Stiles like the resolution but hoped for a simpler version. Both commissioners support Second Amendment rights, the Cherokee Scout reported.

Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum, who wrote the three-page resolution, cited Germany between World War l and World War ll, and the confiscation of guns there that led to the rise of Nazi Germany. He also mentioned how the first actions dictators take is to take away guns from the public, the Cherokee Scout reported.

Cherokee County is not the only place to adopt such measures. Twenty-five out of 33 New Mexico counties adopted gun sanctuary measures. In this case, New Mexico law enforcement signed public declarations meant to send a message to liberal politicians trying to enforce gun control measures in the state, Pacific Standard reported.

Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace, president of the New Mexico Sheriffs’ Association, started the movement within the state. He said that the state’s gun control measures ignore the concerns of law enforcement.

“There are whole sanctuary county, city, and state movements, and those are essentially saying ‘Hey, we can shield immigrants from the federal law,'” Mace told Pacific Standard. “They’re picking and choosing which laws they want to follow as a state, so we’re thinking as a county, why can’t we take this back to our commissioners and say we’re going to draft a resolution that says our counties are Second Amendment sanctuary counties.”

The sheriffs have received a lot of pushback from politicians, in a conflict that has led to how much discretion local law enforcement and county politicians have in enforcing laws approved by the state.

Other states to initiate gun sanctuary movements include Washington, Nevada, Oregon, and Illinois.