Monthly Archives: July 2021

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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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See original 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.

See the article here:
Walla Walla, Columbia County sheriffs sign letter affirming 'commitment to the Second Amendment' - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Treasure Coast Newspapers

July 13 was a historic day as Indian River County became the 45th Florida county to approve a resolution designating IRC a "sanctuary" for the Second Amendment, a public expression of their unequivocal support for the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. With enthusiastic support from Sheriff Eric Flowers and most of the commissioners, Moss consented with her silence by "not objecting."

Given Moss's apparent disdain for her constituents, her lackluster "support" of the resolution was no surprise. Moss was the only commissioner who has repeatedly disrespected her constituents by missing scheduled meetings. In May or June, we scheduled meetings with all five county commissioners on the same day to discuss our resolution, and to present to them nearly 1,500 signatures from IRC residents, gathered over the previous year in support of the resolution. Moss must be busier than the rest of the commissioners since she was the only no-show.

No explanation or apology was offered by Commissioner Moss. Not wishing to embarrass her publicly, I refrained from mentioning her lack of decorum at the public meeting on July 13, and in good faith offered to show her the signed petitions, which she had not previously witnessed due to her own malfeasance. When she insisted on keeping them overnight, I reluctantly obliged, explaining that the petitioners did not wish their information to be shared or made public. When she said Wednesday was too soon, I offered to pick them up on Thursday, to which she agreed.

After repeated attempts to reach Moss, she has not responded or returned the now 1,600 petitions, lent to her in good faith. What is her motive?

Laura Moss has demonstrated by her elitist attitude that she deserves neither respect, nor our trust.

Lamarre Notargiacomo, Vero Beach, supports the Indian River County 2nd Amendment Defense Coalition.

Recently, I had a spirited discussion with a perpetually disgruntled conservative. During our conversation, the subject of critical race theory arose. I challenged him to define CRT, anticipating his answer: Its a liberal attempt to turn children against one another. While this is the conservative definition of CRT, its as simplistic as it is wrongheaded.

Simply stated, CRT is a decades-old academic theory proposing a new approach to examine perpetual racism and exclusion. (Note: Initially, CRT was, in part, a repudiation of liberal responses addressing racist legal practices. It had nothing to do with public school instruction.)

Flustered by my response dismissed by right-wing operatives whove turned CRT into a divisive political strategy he blurted, Youre the laughingstock of the neighborhood (because I challenge right-wing fabrications). CRT has encouraged scholarly conversation about the impact of racism on U.S. history. (Few things frustrate conservatives more than scholarly investigations, which emphasize objective analysis over subjective opinion and political propaganda.)

Furthermore, CRT has led to critical investigations into other cultural issues, including the effects of internalized shame on marginalized minorities. (If youre a privileged white male, youve no idea how destructive that kind of constant, inescapable shame feels.) Unfortunately, CRTs opponents invoke their enormous misunderstanding to frame liberals as unpatriotic buffoons who want to incite white guilt among school-age children. This is demagoguery in its most pernicious form.

In a recent salute to Americas Fourth of July celebrations, NBCs Harry Smith said, Our history is both woeful and wonderful (and) our stories should be shared (and) owned. It endangers no one to understand the sins of our past.

The poet William Blake wrote, The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, (which) breeds reptiles of the mind.

This is what truth looks like.

Cray Little, Vero Beach

Editor'snote: The following two letters are being rerun in their entirety due to an inadvertentprinting erroron July 22.

Florida is falling into the clutches of another COVID-19 wave and where is our illustrious governor Ron DeSantis? Why, at the border in Texas. He has sent a 50-member troop of law-enforcement officials to the border in support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbots plea for help protecting the border. DeSantis followed to show his support, or maybe get a photo-op with his idol Donald Trump.

Our state is falling into the ravages of this plague and our leader is off the reservation. Please tell me what he can do there as opposed to as what he can do here?

He cares more for showing his and Trumps minions what they want to see than doing what it will take to finally bring this plague to an end. He has abused his powers by selling T-shirts and political material using anti-Fauci slogans.

When will he finally resign himself to care about the people of his state? Both DeSantis and his wife have been vaccinated and have never fostered the same for his constituents. Trump could have put an end to non-vaxxers, as De Santis could have, but both chose to turn their backs.

If more citizens do not get vaccinated, then only non-vaccinated individuals will get sick, and possibly some will die.

Policis must be left out of this pending disaster.

Joseph De Phillips, Stuart

So a political action committee connected to Gov. Ron DeSantis is now selling Dont Fauci My Florida merchandise. Wow. Considering the governors record on COVID-19 I can only say Please America, dont DeSantis my cemetery any more than he already has.

Stephen Osiecki, Vero Beach

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Letters to the Editor: July 23, 2021 - TCPalm

MADISON - Republican lawmakers are introducing new legislation that would decrease restrictions on firearms in Wisconsin by lowering the age to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon to 18 and allowing permit holders to have guns in vehicles on school grounds.

Both bills being circulated by Republican lawmakers for sponsorship in the state Legislature in recent weeks have been proposed before and likely will face hurdles under Gov. Tony Evers, who has said he supports the law as it's currently written.

Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, said in an interview the bill to lower the age to obtain a concealed carry permit from 21 to 18 follows a recent federal appeals court ruling that said prohibitions on selling handguns to Americans under 21 violates the Second Amendment.

"The (ruling) made it pretty clear you can't make arbitrary laws that say one adult does not have the same rights as other adults," Sortwell said.

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, said July 13 that a 1968 law that banned the sale of handguns to people under 21 years old but permitted the sale of shotguns and rifles to those same peoplewas an arbitrary restriction that put 18- to 20-year-olds in second-class status under the Second Amendment. The decision is likely to be appealed and may reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

"When do constitutional rights vest? At 18 or 21? 16 or 25? Why not 13 or 33?" wrote Judge Julius Richardson, nominatedto the court by former President Donald Trump. "In the law, a line must sometimes be drawn. But there must be a reason why constitutional rights cannot be enjoyed until a certain age."

Richardson'sopinion drew a criticaldissent from Judge James Wynn, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama.

"The majority's decision to grant the gun lobby a victory in a fight it lost on Capitol Hill more than fifty years ago is not compelled by law," Wynn wrote. "Nor is it consistent with the proper role of the federal judiciary in our democratic system."

Sortwell sees Wisconsin's concealed-carry law that was implemented in 2011 and requires permit-holders to be 21 as having similar problems.

"Individuals who are old enough to legally own and possess a handgun are also old enough to obtain a concealed-carry permit, and it is our obligation as the state legislature to ensure equality before the law," Sortwell wrote in a memo to colleagues seeking support for the legislation.

"If this is about self defense, why should my 18-, 19-, 20-year-olddaughter be more at risk to criminals than my 21-year-olddaughter?" he said in an interview last week.

Attorney General Josh Kaul, through a spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to whether he agreed with Sortwell's interpretation of the ruling.

A spokeswoman for Evers also did not immediately respond to whether the governor would sign the proposed legislation. While running for governor in 2017, Evers said he would act as a "goalie" for similar proposals being introduced at the time.

Kids in Wisconsin dont need more guns near or around schools, said Evers, who was state superintendent at the time, about a similar bill that was ultimately unsuccessful.

At that time, Republican lawmakers were debating legislation that would allow Wisconsin residents tocarry concealed firearms without getting training or state permits, and would have endedthe states ban on tasers and allow some people to bring guns onto school grounds.

"We will be introducing legislation to ensure that parents who hold a concealed carry permit dont accidentally violate the law when picking up or dropping off their child in their school parking lot," Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, and Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, said earlier this month in a memo to colleagues seeking support for the legislation.

The bill would require the vehicle be locked and the firearm be out of sight.

During the 2017 debate on the more expansive bill, the Wisconsin Association of School Boards at the time had adopted a resolution that stated the group opposed any legislation that would expand the ability to carry firearms on school grounds beyond sworn law enforcement officers.

"Historically, the majority of school board members have expressed a belief that guns and children are not a good mix," Dan Rossmiller, a lobbyist for WASB, said Monday. "While we are aware of concerns from parents who hold concealed carry permits who may violate the law when picking up or dropping off their child, our members have not responded to the introduction of previous, similar legislative proposals by changing the existing WASB resolution. For that reason, I expect our position, as it has been in the past, would be to oppose this new legislation."

Critics ofthe state's concealed carry law andMilwaukee Police officials also have expressed concerns about criminals obtaining permits or those without criminal records carrying firearms for criminals.

In 2015, formerMilwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn pointed to a permit holder who had a habit of turning up at shooting and homicide scenesserving as a human holster which resulted in charges against him.

Jim Palmer, executive director for the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said Monday his members have yet to evaluate the new proposals.

"When it comes to gun control issues, our organization has generally been split on those, largely due to distinctions between officers that serve rural areas and those that serve in more urban areas," he said, speaking generally. "In our experience, urban officers tend to be more concerned about gun violence than their rural counterparts, who dont experience the same degree of gun crimes."

John Fritze of USA Today contributed to this report.

Contact Molly Beckat molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.

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Link:
Bills would lower concealed carry age to 18, allow permit holders to have guns in cars on school grounds - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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