2A Sanctuary Counties and States


SpiritDragon
 Share

Recommended Posts

As it seems that the desire to restrict constitutional rights grows stronger and deeper I found it refreshing to learn that there are counties and states that are establishing practices to defy federal gun restrictions deemed unconstitutional. 

As I'm not an expert on the US system of governance, I have some questions:

My understanding is that the states having their own sovereignty are granted the ability to enforce or not enforce federal laws - which makes sense for them to be able to stand in defiance of federal laws at a state level. On the county level do they have a similar sovereign power to choose to not enforce federal laws, even if the rest of the state does? If the state itself passes laws that are unconstitutional do individual counties have grounds to defy state laws, or if they choose to do so are they pretty well going rogue and asking for trouble?

Finally, what are your thoughts on establishing 2A sanctuary counties and states?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My thoughts on the question...

IN THEORY, Federal law trumps state law (Trumps...haha...get it...okay...not that funny).

Once again, in theory, if a state refuses to enforce Federal Law or ignores it, the Federal Government can enforce it upon that state. 

Normally, this doesn't happen by force or power these days, instead it is more of withholding money or other incentives to force the state governments to comply.

However, Federal Government power is limited by the Constitution, and those powers not granted by the Constitution (though these have increased due to judicial activism) are given to the states.

Again, in THEORY a state could have more restrictive gun laws then Federal requirements, but not less.

Sanctuary cities/counties for 2A rights would probably be handled similarly to Sanctuary Cities in regards to immigration, or so I imagine.

County enforcement of State laws on the otherhand would probably vary from state to state depending on how states determine their Gun laws and enforcement thereof.

I hadn't heard of counties refusing to enforce Federal Regulations yet, but I have heard of some deliberating about ignoring STATE laws that are restrictive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your reply JJ.

Here is one of the articles I found after first hearing about 2A sanctuaries:

https://www.theorganicprepper.com/second-amendment-sanctuaries/

I'm guessing I don't fully grasp what is actually going on with the dual sovereignty issue. I also gather I'm not alone in that, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Colorado is an interesting place. 

Denver and surrounding areas tend to be very Blue.  Denver is known as a sanctuary city, meaning they willfully do not enforce various immigration laws.  I think they've gone so far as to bar local law enforcement from working with ICE.  

The rest of Colorado is pretty Red.  Lots of military, lots of farming communities, lots of legal immigrants from South of the border.  It's not uncommon to get a county Sheriff statement about how they won't enforce this or that Colorado or federal statute on things like red-flag laws (requiring taking guns from people who have not been tried and convicted of anything).

About half a decade ago, in gut-reflex emotional reaction to the Aurora theater shooting, the Colorado legislature passed a package of 10 gun control bills.  Just about every county Sheriff in CO, teamed up with a bunch of private businesses, and sued the state over a couple of them, with most Sheriffs openly stating they would not come within a mile of enforcing the problem laws.  (In this case - a law that made it illegal to transfer sale of high-capacity magazines.  Totally unenforceable, as nobody could prove when someone bought a magazine.)  Colorado got so mad, we recalled two Democrat senators and almost turned the whole state Red again.

Edited by NeuroTypical
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

The rest of Colorado is pretty Red. 

It's more than just Denver that is blue:

Screen-Shot-2018-11-12-at-5.23.09-PM.png

Large urban areas tend to be blue.  Rural areas that depend on tourism are usually blue.  Coal and oil counties tend to be red.  Farming counties are mostly red, except for the ones with a lot of hispanic heritage.

Edited by Scott
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/2/2020 at 2:50 PM, NeuroTypical said:

About half a decade ago, in gut-reflex emotional reaction to the Aurora theater shooting, the Colorado legislature passed a package of 10 gun control bills.  Just about every county Sheriff in Colorado, teamed up with a bunch of private businesses, and sued the state over a couple of them, with most Sheriffs openly stating they would not come within a mile of enforcing the problem laws.  (In this case - a law that made it illegal to transfer sale of high-capacity magazines.  Totally unenforceable, as nobody could prove when someone bought a magazine.)  Colorado got so mad, we recalled two Democrat senators and almost turned the whole state Red again.

I heard the restrictions on full capacity magazines are toothless in Colorado.  Many gun dealers sell sixteen to thirty round magazine parts kits.  They are not assembled so you can buy one legally.  Then one can take it home assemble it and have your own thirty round full capacity magazine.  (Like you could not go to Wyoming or Utah and buy a full capacity magazine and bring it home anyway.)

It's too bad the Colorado courts ruled against the common citizen owning sixteen to thirty round magazines.  It doesn't matter though.  Most Sheriffs in Colorado refuse to enforce the magazine capacity restrictions and also thankfully the Colorado red flag gun confiscation laws.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share