Sanctuary County Forms in Illinois... But This One Protects Gun Owners, Not Illegals
Officials in one county in Illinois are taking a stand for the Constitution, with a vote Monday establishing themselves as a sanctuary against any state law that infringes upon the rights of gun owners, Independent Journal Review reported.
The Effingham County Board voted 8-1, declaring that no county official will enforce any new state law that “unconstitutionally restrict(s) the Second Amendment.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, the state attorney for Effingham County, Bryan Kibler, said the resolution was largely a symbolic gesture that won’t necessarily control any of the decision-making abilities of the county sheriff or his department.
County Sheriff Dave Mahon said that in the event an unconstitutional law is passed by Illinois in violation of the Second Amendment, he would consult with the state’s attorney and the Illinois Sheriff’s Association before making any major decisions on how to proceed.
Kibler and Effingham County Board member David Campbell appeared on Fox News to discuss the passage of the resolution and the establishment of sanctuary for gun owners.
Campbell explained that after watching the state legislature debate and vote on a number of gun control measures he decided it was time to “take a stand” in defense of the Second Amendment and began to research how to put such a resolution together.
The board member admitted that he had drawn inspiration from a similar resolution passed by north-eastern Iroquois County — located just south of Chicago — which expressed the county’s staunch opposition to a number of gun control bills circulating in the state legislature. It also called the county a “sanctuary” from such proposed state laws.
Kibler noted that the resolution was mostly symbolic — and pointed out that a state law which did indeed unconstitutionally infringe upon the Second Amendment would be struck down by the courts and rendered unenforceable regardless — but felt the constant assault upon the right to keep and bear arms by the state legislature needed to be fought.
“So we thought, you know what, why don’t we just make this a sanctuary county like they would for undocumented immigrants,” Kibler said. “So we did flip the script on it and I think that is what caused this outpouring of support, and also against what we’re up to.”
“We took a word or phrase that has become kind of sacred here lately — which is ‘sanctuary county’ — and we’re re-appropriating it for our own purpose, which is we’re taking a stand and making it known to the Illinois General Assembly that if they keep on this path of stripping away Second Amendment rights, there’s gonna be blowback from the people of southern Illinois,” he continued.
Kibler reiterated that he has seen an outpouring of support from other counties in southern Illinois, some of whuch will follow suit shortly and make similar gestures on behalf of gun owners.
He also noted that the admittedly symbolic move was an unmistakable message to the politicians in Chicago who they would no longer be able to impose their vision of strict gun control on the rest of the state.
Symbolic gesture or not, this is a pretty amazing move and one that most Second Amendment supporters can get behind.
That said, it is also more than a little disconcerting that a “sanctuary” needs to be established to protect law-abiding Americans who simply want to exercise a constitutional right.
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