The Patriot Post® · 'Second Amendment Sanctuaries'

By Louis DeBroux ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/61715-second-amendment-sanctuaries-2019-03-13

So-called “progressive” Democrats across America are finding out that what is good for the goose, politically speaking, is good for the gander.

For years, Democrats have refused to enforce U.S. immigration laws, declaring themselves to be “sanctuary” cities and states. Refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, they have harbored illegal alien criminals to prevent deportation. In one case, an Oregon judge even helped an illegal alien, just convicted of DUI after having been previously deported, escape from ICE agents waiting outside her courtroom to take him into custody.

Despite the thousands upon thousands of murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults committed against U.S. citizens each year by illegal aliens, Democrats stand defiant against enforcement of laws stopping illegal immigration. Despite the metastasizing threat of the brutal, violent Salvadoran gang MS-13, which has grown to tens of thousands of members in the U.S., engaging in murder, rape, child prostitution, drug and human trafficking, gun-running, etc., Democrats stand with the criminals.

So it seems only fitting that the tables are being turned. In leftist, Democrat-run states where draconian gun-control laws have been and continue to be passed, citizens and sheriffs in more conservative, rural counties are declaring themselves to be “Second Amendment sanctuary cities” and refusing to enforce the anti-gun, unconstitutional laws that seek to disarm law-abiding citizens.

Arguably, New Mexico leads the biggest rebellion against these infringements on constitutionally protected rights. In response to several gun-control bills passed by the Democrats in the state legislature, 30 of the state’s 33 county sheriffs signed a letter pledging their refusal to enforce the new laws.

One of the leaders of the rebellion, Quay County Sheriff Russell Shafer, explained his position, stating, “If a state or city can become a sanctuary for illegal immigration, then we can become a sanctuary for Second Amendment rights.”

In fact, the local governments of 25 of New Mexico’s 33 counties have declared themselves to be “sanctuary” counties where the gun-control laws will not be enforced, and 29 of the 33 county sheriffs are refusing to enforce the laws. The New Mexico Sheriff’s Association has also warned it will sue the state if the new gun laws are enacted.

No doubt part of the rebellion comes from indignation at having rights infringed by elected officials whose knowledge of guns is imbecilic at best. New Mexico’s Democrat Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham last year called for a ban on “high magazine cartridges.” That’s not even a thing!

If the underlying intent wasn’t so nefarious, listening to Democrats expose their absolute stupidity about guns would be hilarious.

One of the bills in question is the so-called “red flag” legislation that allows family members or even acquaintances of a gun owner to petition a court to temporarily confiscate the owner’s weapons if they believe the person presents a danger to themselves or others. The obvious danger is that such a provision could be abused without significant safeguards. Sheriffs argue they already have legal recourses to remove a weapon from a potentially dangerous person, and the new laws fail to protect the due process rights of gun owners. 
Sheriffs say they are responding to the wishes of the voters who elected them, in counties that have passed resolutions banning county funds from being used to enforce these laws.

Newly elected New Mexico Governor Grisham mocked the revolt by county sheriffs in her state, accusing them of being “rogue sheriffs throwing a childish pity party,” claiming they are undermining public safety.

In reality, it is the statist, gun-grabbing Democrats who are undermining public safety by disarming law-abiding citizens, leaving them as easy prey for violent criminals. In January 2013, to much leftist fanfare, Barack Obama directed the Centers for Disease Control to commission a study on how to reduce gun violence in America. The results were released later that year with a whisper. Why? Because the study determined that the number of defensive gun uses, which prevented or stopped a crime, occurred as much as 10 times more often than criminal gun uses.

These revolts are occurring not just in New Mexico, but in even more Democrat-dominated states like Washington, Colorado, and Illinois, where the state legislature is seeking to ban commonly owned semiautomatic weapons; which is to say, nearly all firearms.

It’s no wonder that there is such a deep divide between “red” and “blue” America. Red America wants the Constitution respected and immigration laws enforced. It wants God-given rights protected by the government that supposedly serves them. Blue America insists we allow in wave after wave of illegal aliens, including violent criminals, while also demanding that law-abiding citizens be stripped of their right to arm and defend themselves.

Thomas Jefferson was right when (quoting Cesare Beccaria) he declared that “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.”

Therefore, we recommend that gun-grabbing Democrats abide by the same advice they give pro-lifers on abortion; namely, if you don’t want one, don’t get one, but don’t take away our right to one. And unlike the “right” to abortion, the right to keep and bear arms can actually be found in the Constitution.