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Three Of My Favorite Groups Unite To Take On Wake Sheriff

March 27, 2020

by John Richardson 1 Comment

Wake County (NC) Sheriff Gerald Baker should be feeling a bit uneasy right about now. That’s because three of my favorite groups – Grass Roots North Carolina, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Firearms Policy Coalition – have come together to file suit against Baker’s refusal to even take applications for the Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit.

For those that don’t know, in North Carolina, you need a pistol purchase permit to purchase a handgun regardless of whether it is from a dealer or a private individual unless you possess a NC Concealed Handgun Permit. As I’ve written about it many a time, the law was passed in 1919 in an unspoken but well understood effort to keep African-Americans, Populists, and union backers disarmed.

The suit has been filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The individual plaintiff is Kerry Stafford who decided a handgun was the proper firearm with which to defend herself and her family. After calling the Wake County sheriff’s department for an PPP application, she was refused.

The complaint alleges that Sheriff Baker has exceeded his discretion and has violated the Second and Fourteenth Amendments depriving Ms. Stafford and others of their constitutional rights under color of law. It asks that either an injunction be issued or that the requirement for a pistol purchase permit be waived until April 30th.

It is great to see these groups working together. For GRNC and SAF, it is a reprise of the joint efforts that led to the win in Bateman v. Perdue.

They issued a joint release which I have copied below:

GRNC, SAF, FPC File Federal Lawsuit Against Wake County, NC Sheriff Over Constitutional Violations
RALEIGH, NC (March 27, 2020) — Today, attorneys for an individual Wake County, North Carolina resident, Grass Roots North Carolina, Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and Firearms Policy Coalition filed a federal lawsuit challenging Wake County Sheriff Gerald M. Baker’s recent actions infringing on Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights he announced as a response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. A copy of the lawsuit can be found at:
https://www.grnc.org/documents/Complaint-Wake-County-Filed.pdf
This latest case tracks a 2011 federal court victory in Bateman v. Perdue, also led by plaintiffs Second Amendment Foundation and Grass Roots North Carolina, which successfully challenged North Carolina statutes restricting firearms during states of emergency.
“Although Sheriff Gerald Baker claims his refusal to accept applications for pistol purchase permits and concealed handgun permits doesn’t infringe on individual rights, nothing could be further from the truth,” said GRNC president Paul Valone. “During this emergency, as always, GRNC intends to ensure that lawful North Carolinians have the means to protect themselves and their families.”
“Sheriff Baker is implementing by fiat what the Supreme Court struck down in Heller – a ban on a citizen’s right to purchase a handgun for the defense of hearth and home. This action cannot be allowed to stand,” said GRNC Director of Legal Affairs Ed Green.
“Times of emergency is when you need the ability to obtain the means of self-defense the most. Suspending that right is not acceptable. That is why this lawsuit is so important,” commented SAF founder and Executive Vice President, Alan Gottlieb.
“Sheriff Baker’s unconstitutional actions have and will deprive law-abiding, peaceable individuals the opportunity to obtain handguns, the ‘quintessential self-defense weapon’ according to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a time where the arms are most needed,” explained attorney and FPC Director of Legal Strategy, Adam Kraut. “Sheriff Baker’s actions to stop processing and issuing required Pistol Purchase Permits violate fundamental human rights. We are proud to join GRNC and SAF in this fight to defend the rights of North Carolinians.”
Individual arms applicants/purchasers and retailers affected by ‘stay-home’ or shutdown orders can report potential civil rights violations to FPC’s COVID-19 Issue Hotline at www.FPChotline.org.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Ed Green, Raymond M. DiGuiseppe, and Adam Kraut.
Grass Roots North Carolina (www.grnc.org) is North Carolina’s most effective gun rights organization. GRNC was founded in 1994 as an independent, all-volunteer 501(c)(4) not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving constitutional freedoms. The organization’s projects are primarily devoted to defending the individual right to keep and bear arms.
Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing, and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, especially the fundamental, individual Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom.

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Doing Bars And Bartenders Right In Texas

March 19, 2020

by John Richardson 2 Comments

When the governor of North Carolina ordered the closing of all restaurants and bars to in-service patrons on St. Patrick’s Day, my thoughts went to the servers and the bartenders. This is not because I’m a regular patron. Rather it is because the Complementary Spouse’s first cousin just started a new job as a bartender.

Toby is very good at what he does and is very service oriented. As a result, he makes good tips whether as a server or a bartender. Immediately becoming eligible for unemployment will only replace a fraction of his income.

The NC Executive Order only tells the Alcoholic Beverage Commission to study the situation and get back to the governor in writing on regulations that they might be able to waive or show some flexibility.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) goes further than Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) and actually orders some things that will help bars and bartenders.

From Gov. Abbott’s press release:

Governor Greg Abbott today issued a waiver that will allow restaurants to deliver alcoholic beverages with food purchases to patrons, including beer, wine, and mixed drinks. The Governor also directed the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) to waive certain provisions to allow manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers of alcoholic beverages to repurchase or sell back unopened product.
These waivers are in response to the financial hardship caused by COVID-19 that has disproportionately affected the hospitality industry.
“The State of Texas is committed to supporting retailers, restaurants, and their employees,” said Governor Abbott. “These waivers will allow restaurants to provide enhanced delivery options to consumers during this temporary period of social distancing.”
Under this waiver, effective immediately, restaurants with a mixed beverage permit may sell beer, wine, or mixed drinks for delivery as long as they are accompanied by food purchased from the restaurant.
The buy-back waiver allows alcohol distributors and manufacturers to repurchase excess inventory from restaurants, bars, and clubs affected by event cancellations due to COVID-19.

So bartenders can still make drinks for delivery and establishments can sell back their excess inventory. This keeps more people employed and allows the reallocation of inventory. I like it.

North Carolina should follow the example of Texas. However, given my home state’s antediluvian approach to anything dealing with alcoholic beverages, I’m not holding my breath.

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Imagine If SAF And GRNC Hadn’t Won Bateman

March 11, 2020

by John Richardson 5 Comments

Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) today declared a state of emergency that covers all of North Carolina. It was declared in response to the spread of COVID-19 or the coronavirus. As of Monday, there have been seven confirmed cases of it with six of those in Wake County and the seventh in Chatham County. For non-North Carolinians, that is Raleigh and the Pittsboro/Siler City areas.

Excerpts from Gov. Cooper’s press release:

Governor Roy Cooper took the next step in the state’s coronavirus COVID-19 preparedness plan today and issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency. The declaration activates the Emergency Operations Center to help agencies coordinate from one location and makes it easier to purchase needed medical supplies, protect consumers from price gouging, and increase county health departments’ access to state funds…
Key provisions in the order are similar to those enacted in a natural disaster. The order will help with the cost burdens and supplies that may be difficult for providers and public health to access due to increased demand. It also increases the state public health department’s role in supporting local health departments, which have been tasked with monitoring quarantines, tracing exposure and administering testing.

Executive Order No. 116 in its entirety is found here.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane back to January 2010 when there was a heavy snow storm in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The City of King and Stokes County were particularly hard hit. In response, Gov. Beverly Perdue and both locales declared states of emergency. This automatically triggered then NC General Statute § 14-288.7(a) which provided, in part,:

“it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area: (1) In which a declared state of emergency exists; or (2) Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.”

The City of King went further and invoked their powers under NC General Statute § 14-288.12(b). This “forbade the sale or purchase of firearms and ammunition, as well as the possession of firearms and ammunition off an individual’s premises.” It also banned the sale of alcoholic beverages.

Thus, any time a state of emergency covering all of North Carolina or any time a city or county declared a state of emergency, § 14-288.7(a) kicked in and you could not carry a firearm outside your own home. There were no exceptions made for those of us who hold a Concealed Handgun Permit.

Fast forward a few months to June and the US Supreme Court handled down a monumental Second Amendment ruling. That was, of course, McDonald v. Chicago which applied the Second Amendment as an individual right to the states under the 14th Amendment. That was on the morning of June 28, 2010.

By the close of business on June 28th, the Second Amendment Foundation and Grass Roots North Carolina with attorney Alan Gura had filed suit against the State of North Carolina, the City of King, and Stokes County for violating the Second and 14th Amendments. The case, Bateman v. Perdue, using the newly won application of the Second Amendment to the states in McDonald, directly challenged NC’s emergency powers gun bans.

To make a long story short, US District Court Judge Malcom J. Howard, using strict scrutiny found that the emergency powers gun ban did violate the Second Amendment in March 2012.

The problem here is that the emergency declaration statutes, are not narrowly tailored to serve the government’s interest in public safety. They do not target dangerous individuals or dangerous conduct. Nor do they seek to impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions by, for example, imposing a curfew to allow the exercise of Second Amendment rights during circumscribed times. Rather, the statutes here excessively intrude upon plaintiffs’ Second Amendment rights by effectively banning them (and the public at large) from engaging in conduct that is at the very core of the Second Amendment at a time when the need for self-defense may be at its very greatest. See Heller, 128 S. Ct. at 2799 (” [A] mericans understood the ‘right of self-preservation’ as permitting a citizen to ‘repe[l] force by force’ when ‘the intervention of society in his behalf, may be too late to prevent an injury. ‘ ” (quoting 1 Blackstone’s Commentaries 145-146, n.42 (1803) ) (second alteration in original)) . Consequently, the emergency declaration laws are invalid as applied to plaintiffs.

Session Law 2012-12 was signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue (D-NC) on June 11, 2012 and became effective on October 1, 2012. This codified the ruling by Judge Howard and repealed NC General Statutes § 14-288.7 and § 14-288.12 through § 14-288.17.

Thanks to Alan Gura, the Second Amendment Foundation, and Grass Roots North Carolina just because seven people have COVID-19 and the governor has declared a state of emergency you can no longer be disarmed. We owe them and the individual plaintiffs a debt of gratitude.

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60+ North Carolina Counties Have Adopted 2A Sanctuary Resolutions

February 20, 2020

by John Richardson 7 Comments

I have dropped the ball on reporting about the number of North Carolina counties that have adopted Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

When I was getting ready to head to the SHOT Show in January, the number had risen to 10. Now a month later, there are more than 60 counties that have adopted such a resolution.

From A. P. Dillon at North State Journal:

RALEIGH — As of the end of the first week of February, 60 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have passed some form of Second Amendment resolution affirming the right of citizens to bear arms. That number is over four times the total from the end of January when only 12 counties had passed such a measure.
Brunswick, Carteret, Lee and Lenoir are the most recent to join the movement.
The Franklin County Commission passed their resolution on Feb. 3, stating the county will protect the rights of its citizens to keep and bear arms and oppose any unconstitutional means to restrict such rights.
Onslow County commissioners met on Feb. 10 and unanimously adopted a Second Amendment resolution. By the recommendation from the county’s attorney, the Onslow resolution does not declare the county specifically to be a “sanctuary.”
Onslow Chairman Jack Bright said that they passed this resolution to let legislators know how their citizens felt after watching the introduction of laws restricting gun rights in Virginia.

The number as of yesterday is now 63. Moore, Person, and Halifax counties have adopted Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions.

You are really starting to see the rural-urban divide when you examine this map. The largest counties such as Guilford, Mecklenburg, Wake, and my own Buncombe have not adopted Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions. Lest you say it is Democrat versus Republicans on the issue, Guilford County has a 5-4 Republican majority.

Let’s Give Him A Warm North Carolina Welcome (Updated)

February 11, 2020

by John Richardson 3 Comments

Guess who is coming to town on Thursday?

If you said anyone other than Mike Bloomberg you would be wrong.

Bloomberg is planning campaign stops in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Raleigh in conjunction with the start of early voting in the North Carolina primary.

In Winston-Salem, he will be at Campus Gas, 1231 Polo Rd from 7:00am–8:30am. He continues on to his campaign HQ at 300 S. Elm Street in Greensboro and will be there at 9:30am. Doors open to the public at 9am. Finally, he will be in Raleigh at Union Station ( 510 W Martin St) from 11:45am until 1:15pm.

Volunteers from Grass Roots North Carolina plan to give him a warm North Carolina welcome when he arrives at his Greensboro downtown HQ. This is the main event! Try to be there by 9am.

A good turn out will get good press coverage. Please be there around 9am. Our friends in Virginia welcomed his bus in Arlington and greatly outnumbered Bloomberg’s supporters. It sure would be nice to see that happen here in the Tar Heel State.

If you can’t be in Greensboro or you need to get to work earlier, a few people plan to welcome his arrival in Winston-Salem at 7am. I’d suggest being there around 6:30am at Campus Gas.

Bloomberg’s money has bought him a lot of things. It bought him many houses, a well-armed security team, and most recently a compliant legislature in Virginia. It has also bought him silence when it comes to comments he made in a 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute. He requested video not be made available and the Aspen Institute complied.

However, things have a way of leaking out.

Audio of @MikeBloomberg’s 2015 @AspenInstitute speech where he explains that “you can just Xerox (copy)” the description of male, minorities 16-25 and hand to cops.

Bloomberg had video of speech blocked.

Perhaps because of the problematic explanation he gives for #StopAndFrisk pic.twitter.com/Fm0YCi4ZRy
— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) February 10, 2020

“Ninety-five percent of your murders, murderers and murder victims, fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops,” Bloomberg said. “They are male, minorities, 16 to 25. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city. And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed.”
“So one of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is,” he continued.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/throw-them-up-against-the-wall-leaked-recording-of-bloomberg-defending-stop-and-frisk-resurfaces

This was a continuation of comments he made in defense of “stop and frisk” back in 2013. You can hear part of his comments to WOR-NY below where he says too many whites are being stopped and not enough minorities.

Mike Bloomberg defending Stop-and-Frisk in 2013: “I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.” pic.twitter.com/KpdKgUALsL
— ً (@upmtn) February 11, 2020

I am reading an excellent book right now on the rise of white supremacy in North Carolina in the post-Civil War days. The book, Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy, details how disarmament of blacks was one goal of the white supremacists. It started with the Black Codes, began again after Reconstruction ended, and continued on into the 20th Century. Armed freedmen and black Union veterans stood up to the Klan which allowed blacks to vote up through the end of the century. It made Wilmington a successful mixed-race community with many black office holders up until the coup of 1898.

Bloomberg’s comments would have found hearty agreement from former Confederate Colonel Roger Moore who headed the KKK in Wilmington and later from the Democrat architect of white supremacy Sen. Furnifold Simmons. The state’s pistol purchase permit is a remnant of laws put in place by the white supremacists. That we still have it is due in part to ad campaigns funded by Bloomberg and his Everytown organization against discarding the system.

So when Mike comes to town, let’s give him the warm North Carolina welcome he so richly deserves.

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Interview With Paul Valone Of GRNC On Guns & Gadgets

February 5, 2020

by John Richardson

Jared Yanis of the Guns & Gadgets YouTube channel interviewed Paul Valone of Grass Roots North Carolina at the recent SHOT Show.

Paul, who is president of GRNC, made the point that North Carolina is ground zero in the fight for gun rights. Everything you have seen in Virginia could happen here.

Lawsuits by Eric Holder and Democrats over redistricting. Check.

Money from Michael Bloomberg. Check.

Growth in sanctuary counties. A good thing but still check.

Paul made the point to me in Las Vegas that Virginia had to resort to the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement. They had lost their other options. We in North Carolina are not at that point. Yet.

Everyone who attends a county sanctuary meeting needs to be registered to vote. Even more importantly, they need to recruit 10 likeminded friends and make sure they are registered to vote. Then all 11 need to vote for pro-gun candidates in both the March primaries and November general election.

The other thing they need to do is join groups like Grass Roots North Carolina to give us the money and power needed to stand up the influx of money that Michael Bloomberg has already promised will be sent to North Carolina. That $250,000 is just the beginning.

To join GRNC – even if you don’t live in North Carolina – go here. We sure could use the help!

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Three More North Carolina Counties Adopt 2A Resolutions (Updated)

January 14, 2020

by John Richardson 1 Comment

County Commissioners in three more North Carolina counties have adopted Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions. Adding Beaufort, McDowell, and Stokes counties to the list now makes nine counties that have adopted some form of a Second Amendment resolution.

My friend Andy Stevens who resides in Stokes County reports that it was standing room only there with over 200 people attending the commissioners’ meeting. It was a 5-0 vote in favor of the resolution. As you can see below, the resolution declares Stokes to be a “Constitutional Rights Protection County for Second Amendment Rights”.

2nd Amendment PDF by jpr9954 on Scribd

McDowell County called their resolution a “Second Amendment Endorsement”. Also on their agenda was an agreement to open a public shooting range. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of their “endorsement” as it isn’t on their website. I have requested a copy of it from the McDowell County Clerk’s Office.

Beaufort County became the first eastern North Carolina county to adopt a Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution. The Beaufort County Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution passed 5-2. As a historical aside, Beaufort County is the sixth oldest existing county in North Carolina and was founded in 1705.

Old Beaufort County Courthouse, Built 1786

In addition to adopting this resolution, they also considered a resolution allowing county employees with concealed handgun permits to carry in most county buildings. The resolution stated they wanted their county employees to be able to protect themselves from “the wrongful, purposeful evil intent of the deranged individual.” The author of this resolution, Commissioner Stan Deatherage, pulled his resolution and will resubmit it after some tweaks.

2020 01 13 Regular Meeting Agenda by jpr9954 on Scribd

UPDATE: Thanks to the very quick response from McDowell County County Clerk Cheryl Mitchell, I now have the resolutions adopted by the Board of Commissioners yesterday. It actually goes beyond merely “endorsing” the Second Amendment to actually declaring that McDowell County is a Second Amendment Sanctuary.

McDowell 2nd Amendment by jpr9954 on Scribd

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This Is My Kind Of Sheriff

January 12, 2020

by John Richardson

Greg Seabolt is the Sheriff of Randolph County, North Carolina. His recent statements regarding Second Amendment Sanctuaries make me proud to say I was born in Randolph County though I haven’t lived there for over 53 years.

From Sheriff Greg Seabolt’s Facebook Page

The Asheboro Courier-Tribune reports that Sheriff Seabolt will be bringing a Second Amendment resolution to the County Commissioners at their meeting on February 3rd.

Seabolt announced his intentions on his Facebook page saying:

My job as the Sheriff of Randolph County is to protect and serve the nearly 145,000 citizens. The laws of this great state are very important and must be enforced to insure the safety of our citizens. The rights of each individual in this country are also very important and must never be modified, misinterpreted or overlooked. These are the rights of our constitution that applies to all citizens of this great nation. We have many people attempting to intrude on those rights and that will not be tolerated. That is the reason I stand firm alongside other Sheriffs across this state to draft a proclamation which will be presented to the county commissioners. This resolution will indicate our intentions of preserving our 2nd amendment right so that all citizens can defend themselves against enemies foreign and domestic and never question their authority to bear arms.
My staff and I have been working diligently to prepare this resolution and our hope is deliver it to the commissioners next month. While the subject of the 2nd Amendment can often divide, we must stand firm and hold true that once our rights are infringed upon, we lose the ability to govern ourselves as our founding fathers imagined.

North Carolina needs more sheriffs like Sheriff Seabolt and fewer like some of the sheriffs in the larger counties.

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Rowan County Makes The 6th NC Sanctuary County

January 11, 2020

by John Richardson

Rowan County, North Carolina became the sixth Second Amendment Sanctuary in the state on Friday. The Board of Commissioners adopted their sanctuary resolution unanimously. They join Cherokee, Rutherford, Lincoln, Surry, and Wilkes Counties.

From the Salisbury Post:

In a unanimous vote on Friday, Rowan became the latest North Carolina county to pass a measure referred to as a “Second Amendment sanctuary” resolution. Already, county commissioners in Lincoln, Surry and Wilkes counties have passed similar resolutions. Nearby Davidson, Iredell, Randolph and Alexander counties are considering doing the same, according to media reports.
Rowan’s resolution was brought up for consideration just before commissioners adjourned a planning retreat. It stated, in part, the right of individuals “to keep and bear arms is under attack” in the United States, that the illegal misuse of firearms is not a reason to infringe upon the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens and that Rowan County commissioners are opposed to any law, regulation or other act that would unconstitutionally infringe on Second Amendment rights. It also contained language from the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 30 of the N.C. Constitution.

Commission Chairman Greg Edds said it wasn’t a hard decision.

“We are for the lawful use of firearms and do not in any way defend unlawful use,” Edds said before the vote. “This is an easy thing for us. Rowan County wants to be a community that values our right to self-defense.”

According to news reports, this is the second time the Rowan County Board of Commissiorers had adopted a resolution in support of the Second Amendment. They had passed one in 2013 in response to then-President Obama’s push for gun control after the Newtown murders.

A Facebook page called “Make Rowan County A 2nd Amendment Sanctuary” was started on this past Wednesday and already has 5,700 members.

WBTV posted a photo of the resolution that passed to Facebook.

Given that all the counties that have passed a Second Amendment Sanctuary resolution are either in western North Carolina or the western part of the Piedmont, I’d say it is time for eastern North Carolina to get in gear!

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2A Sanctuary Movement Comes To NC

January 9, 2020

by John Richardson 2 Comments

Cherokee and Rutherford Counties were the first to become Second Amendment Sanctuary counties in North Carolina. They had their votes back in 2019.

You can add three more to that list as of this week.

Surry, Lincoln, and Wilkes Counties have all joined the list. Surry and Wilkes Counties voted unanimously while there is some controversy regarding the Lincoln County vote.

From the Charlotte Observer:

Near Charlotte, all but one of the Lincoln County commissioners were in favor of a resolution that said it would refuse to “enforce any new restrictions on gun ownership,” according to WSOC.
A report from WCNC says the decision was unanimous.
In Surry County, northwest of Winston-Salem, officials voted 5-0 to refuse to use government resources to take guns away from people who follow the law, its resolution shows.
And to the west, another unanimous vote means the Wilkes County government is “opposing any efforts” to restrict gun rights, according to leaders.

Iredell County may become the sixth county. Sheriff Darren Campbell said on Facebook yesterday that he would be preparing a resolution to present to the Board of Commissioners to make that county a Second Amendment Sanctuary.

When I set out to become your sheriff, I promised that I would do my best to protect the citizens of Iredell County. In addition to protecting tangible items, I also swore to protect intangible ones as well. Mainly, the rights guaranteed to each of us under the constitution that we all hold so dear.
In light of those few who wish to impinge upon our rights, I am proud to join with other sheriffs across our state and country to draft a resolution which I will present to our board of commissioners, asking that they protect our most basic right….the ability to defend ourselves against enemies foreign and domestic, our right to bear arms.
My staff and I have been diligently working to prepare this resolution and our hope is deliver it to the commissioners this week. While the subject of the 2nd Amendment can often divide, we must stand firm and hold true that once our rights are infringed upon, we lose the ability to govern ourselves as our founding fathers imagined.

Five down, 95 to go!