Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
The Bedford County commissioners said Friday that, upon advice of their legal counsel, they have declined to declare Bedford County a Second Amendment sanctuary.
Commissioner Deb Baughman read a statement explaining that the commissioners have carefully reviewed the proposed ordinance and understand the concerns expressed by this organization and others about legislative initiatives across the country limiting Second Amendment rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.
“The Bedford County commissioners are strongly committed to protecting our Second Amendment rights,” Baughman read.
“Our legal counsel have advised the commissioners that the Board of County Commissioners does not have the standing or legal authority to enact such an ordinance, nor would the Board have any means of enforcing it if it were passed,” the statement continued. “The specific language of the ordinance endorsed by the Gun Owners of America also attempts to eliminate immunity protections that county employees normally enjoy in the performance of their duties. This is dangerous because it could subject our probation officers and deputy sheriffs to personal liability unnecessarily.”
The Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act specifically pre-empts local governments, including counties, from adopting their own legislation having to do with firearms, the commissioners said.
“That law is in fact an important additional legislative protection of our second amendment rights. It has most often been used in recent years to overturn or negate local governments’ attempts to restrict gun ownership and possession in exactly the way objected to by the Gun Owners of America,” Baughman read. “The Board of Commissioners stands with any citizen or group who supports that law, the Second Amendment, and the Pennsylvania Constitution’s straightforward statement that Pennsylvania citizens’ right to keep and bear arms shall not be questioned.
The Board of Commissioners will always firmly object to any new laws attempting to infringe the firearms freedoms of the Citizens of Bedford County.”
The commissioners announced that, due to this, they will not take any action on the Second Amendment sanctuary ordinance and that at the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 25 they plan to act on a resolution supporting Second Amendment rights and urging the federal and state government elected officials to uphold those rights as guaranteed in both the state and federal Constitutions.
The move is supported by District Attorney Lesley Childers- Potts and Sheriff Wayne Emerick, who were in attendance Friday.
Commissioner Barry Dallara added that the commissioners had been asked to make the item a referendum question if they did not adopt the ordinance.
“There are 27 things that qualify putting something on as a referendum, and this is not one of them ,” he said.
The proposal came after heated debates through Virginia, where dozens of counties and cities have declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” in response to the state legislature’s proposals for firearm restrictions that would ban “assault” weapons, raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21 and require background checks for any firearm transfer.
The six-page ordinance would have prohibited Bedford County from enforcing any new state or federal laws that would “violate the Second Amendment” by imposing additional bans or restrictions on gun ownership.
The ordinance defined “unlawful acts” as any federal or state law that restricts an individual’s constitutional right to keep and bear arms, including any law that bans or limits the lawful use of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition, other than the regulations outlined in the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986.