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About a decade ago, there was a movement among some sheriffs to elevate themselves above their actual authority, calling themselves constitutional officers with additional powers and duties, Finer said.

The National Association of Sheriffs wrote an article at the time addressing the idea.

Lately, there has been much discussion about the Oath of Office taken by any elected sheriff and the legal significance of that oath of office, the article reads.

The article acknowledges sheriffs offices have unique duties because they are the only law enforcement agency that reports directly to an elected official, the sheriff, before saying sheriffs offices are bound by judicial review.

In short, an individual sheriffs oath of office does not contain any additional or unique language conferring special duties, powers or responsibilities on any Office of Sheriff, the article reads. As a result, an individual sheriffs oath of office is the same or identical oath of office conferred on and taken by all of these other public local, county and state officials.

Finer said he is concerned the signed letter tries to add additional powers.

The pledge adds new words to the job description, namely that sheriffs will do all in their power to steadfastly protect the Second Amendment from what or whom we need to protect the amendment goes unstated, Finer said. The pledges promise to use all power is new; this is not in the oath of any elected official. The sheriffs have added a special, new provision and they did so on their own.

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Washington sheriffs sign letter vowing to uphold Second Amendment, but some question their messaging - The Columbian

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Washburn Municipal Building. (David Marino Jr. | Star-Herald)

Washburn Municipal Building. (David Marino Jr. | Star-Herald)

The town of Washburn is planning to hold a public hearing on a resolution that would designate the town a second amendment sanctuary, to be held at a yet-to-be determined date.

WASHBURN, Maine The town of Washburn is planning to hold a public hearing on a resolution that would designate the town a second amendment sanctuary, to be held at a yet-to-be determined date.

The Washburn town council voted July 12 to set a date for the resolution hearing. But the actual hearing itself may not take place until the fall, according to Town Manager Donna Turner.

We were hoping it was going to be in August, but I dont think were going to be able to do it probably until September, Turner said. Im right in the middle of tax commitments and getting tax bills sent out. Thats my number one priority right now.

The resolution had been brought forward to the town by a small group of residents who presented the resolution to the town. It follows a string of other recent resolutions that had been passed by other northern Maine towns in recent months, beginning with Fort Fairfield back in February. Piscataquis County has also passed the resolution, with a proposed resolution for Aroostook County also set to be discussed.

Although mostly symbolic, the second amendment sanctuary resolutions affirm the towns commitment to keep and bear arms, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled includes the individuals right to own firearms. The Administration of the U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed to tackle gun violence in the country, leading to concerns about potential firearms restrictions.

Turner said the original resolution brought forth by the Washburn residents had to be reworked before the town could officially vote on having the public meeting.

It was presented to us as if the council board would be deciding this, and its not, it has to be a town wide decision. Turner said. So they had to go back to the drawing board a little bit.

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Originally posted here:
Washburn to hold public hearing on 'Second Amendment Sanctuary' resolution - The County

Walla Walla County Sheriff Mark Crider and Columbia County Sheriff Joe Helm were among the 37 sheriffs statewide who recently penned and signed a letter affirming a commitment to the Second Amendment.

Washington state has 39 sheriffs.

The message was written because of increasing public concern to safeguard constitutional rights, according to the letter from the Washington State Sheriffs Association.

Crider, who is the secretary and treasurer for the association, signed the letter and posted it on his departments Facebook page with an endorsement.

I am proud to a part of such a great moment when our constitutional rights are being challenged, Crider wrote.

Helm also took to his departments Facebook page to acknowledge his signing and approval of the document.

As sheriff of Columbia County, I am sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Washington, Helm wrote.

The only two counties without signatures were Kitsap and King counties.

Interim Kitsap County Sheriff John Gese told the Kitsap Sun he would have some motivation to go ahead and sign it if he were to be appointed sheriff.

King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht didnt sign the letter and did not respond to multiple requests for comment, according to the Spokesman Review.

The letter does not specifically state any particular law or ordinance related to gun rights or gun ownership.

Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones, who is president of the association, said there was no specific legislation that prompted the letter, according to iFiber One News.

Jones told the Spokesman Review the letter was inspired by a similar letter signed by Utah sheriffs and was primarily prompted by numerous people asking the sheriffs about their Second Amendment rights being protected.

The letter made the rounds on social media and immediately sparked a firestorm of comments, both for and against it.

At issue for some commenters was the vocabulary used in the message, including calling the Constitution divinely inspired.

We understand the destructive influences currently existing in our country will only relent when women and men everywhere genuinely care for each other, the sheriffs wrote. We must rely on Providence and care deeply about preserving the Constitution and its freedoms in order to be a strong and prosperous people.

Others online raised questions about how the sheriffs would address a law passed in 2018 that bans the sale of certain guns to people under 21 and puts added responsibilities on gun owners.

Crider declined to make specific comments about the contents of the letter, but said the document was drafted to assure citizens that the elected sheriffs of Washington will stand by their oath to uphold the constitutions of the U.S. and the state of Washington.

We just want to reiterate that we want to be guided by our oath of office, Crider said. And thats what were gonna use to drive our decisions.

Read more:
Walla Walla, Columbia County sheriffs sign letter affirming 'commitment to the Second Amendment' - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

It looks like were getting hit with another wave of COVID-19 cases.

Looking at the international totals for the virus since all this began in late 2019, a total of 4,154,327 people have died among a total case number of 193,533,900. Those numbers are from the Worldometer website that tracks these totals based on reports from official reporting agencies from countries all over the world, and those numbers are as of Friday morning.

A quick bit of work on my calculator tells me thats a death rate of about 2.15 percent among cases.

But lets think about this another way for a minute.

The population of all of rural West Tennessee gathered for some reason in Downtown Jackson. Thats between 600,000 and 700,000 people packed in to hear a concert or watch fireworks or something like that. Well say 700,000 just to keep the numbers simple.

Were having fun. Everyone is enjoying themselves. And theres more than half a million of us packed into a fairly small area.

But then one person with a gun climbs on top of the New Southern Hotel (I just say that because its the tallest building in the area). He points down into the people and begins shooting.

If the shooter is going to kill people at a rate of 2.15 percent, hes going to get 15,050 of us. But theres no way that would happen because the 700,000 on the ground would never let it get that far.

A lot of us would scatter to get away from the gunfire or run for cover inside a building. But I also know were in Tennessee with more than half a million Tennesseans gathered together, so that means theres probably a lot more than 15,000 people who would be at this gathering exercising their Second Amendment rights in our open carry state in addition to all of the highly trained law enforcement officers and military members who would be at the gathering too.

So among those running for cover and those with guns pointing back at the shooter, precautions would no doubt be taken to make sure this shooter had as little of an impact as possible on the people gathered in Downtown Jackson before he was taken out either with a bullet from the ground or from people climbing the stairs to the roof and dealing with him personally.

We can take our precautions to mitigate the impact COVID-19 has on our local population here, but unfortunately those precautions arent as simple as running for cover or as romanticized as shooting a bad guy.

But we can still mitigate it.

Im hoping we can still get out and gather this time around, but how about we stay away from each other? Ive gotten to where Im shaking hands again when I greet people, but Im thinking Im personally dialing it back to a respectful fist bump for hopefully just a couple or a few weeks.

And keep the hands washed and sanitized too.

And according to our local healthcare leaders, the vaccine is doing its job. There is a 5 percent breakthrough rate for COVID-19, which isnt much bigger than breakthrough rates for other vaccines. But with all vaccines, while the biggest hope is to not get the illness, the secondary hope is that if a vaccinated person gets the virus, its impact is decreased severely, meaning they might not have any symptoms, but if they do, the chances of them needing to be hospitalized are decreased dramatically.

If you havent been vaccinated, call a healthcare provider you trust (an actual healthcare provider and not a meme or video you saw on social media) to get informed and make your decision.

But if youre not comfortable with the vaccine, please take other precautions to slow the spread and mitigate the impact locally.

Thats us taking care of each other just like a lot of us would want to do by taking out a shooter firing at a crowd of us.

Brandon Shields is the editor of The Jackson Sun. Reach him at bjshields@jacksonsun.com or at 731-425-9751. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or on Instagram at editorbrandon.

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Let's take care of each other and mitigate COVID-19 | Opinion - The Jackson Sun

WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in filing anamicusbrief forNew York StateRifle& Pistol Association v. Bruen,a case currently pending beforetheU.S. Supreme Court.

Legislators whether in Albany or Washington, D.C. have neither the power nor the authority to second-guess the policy judgments made by the Framers and enshrined in the Constitution,the senators wrote.The Second Amendments guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms cannot be second-guessed by legislators across the country who simply disagree with the choice the Framers made.

The brief argues New Yorks laws which make it extremely difficult to carry a firearm outside the home violate the Second Amendments guarantee of the right to bear arms. It also emphasizes that by including the right to bear arms in the Constitution, the Framers made a policy choice and explicitly removed from state and federal legislators the ability to second guess that choice.

Senators Cramer and Cruz are joined on theamicusbrief by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Jim Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rick Scott (R-FL), andThom Tillis (R-NC).

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Sen. Cramer, Colleagues File on Amicus Brief to Protect Americans' Second Amendment Rights - Kevin Cramer