Monthly Archives: February 2022

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President Joe Biden said Thursday that "no amendment is absolute" while discussing the Second Amendment and repeated a debunked claim that cannons were prohibited when the amendment was passed.

"Theres no violation of the Second Amendment right," Biden said in New York City while discussing background checks and other ways to address gun crime. "We talk like. Theres no amendment thats absolute. When the amendment was passed it didnt say anybody can own a gun, any kind of gun, and any kind of weapon. You couldnt buy a cannon when this amendment was passed so theres no reason why you should be able to buy certain assault weapons. But thats another issue."

President Biden speaks at an event to discuss gun violence strategies, at police headquarters, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

BIDEN, AHEAD OF NYC VISIT, ROLLS OUT STRATEGY TO STOP FLOW OF GUNS, BOLSTER LAW ENFORCEMENT

Biden has been criticized for using the same cannon example in the past and earned "Four Pinocchios" from the Washington Post in 2021 over the claim and also a "False" label from Politifact in 2020.

Additionally, Biden received backlash on Twitter from gun rights advocates who took issue with his claim that the Second Amendment is not "absolute."

"Actually, @JoeBiden, the 2nd Amendment is absolute," oil executive and author Dan K. Eberhart tweeted. "It's part of the Constitution, whether you like it or not."

"Biden targets law-abiding gun owners, saying there's NO amendment that's absolute!" a Republican National Committee Twitter account posted.

BIDEN SAYS THE ANSWER 'IS NOT TO DEFUND THE POLICE,' BUT TO INVEST IN LAW ENFORCEMENT

"Joe Biden is saying the quiet part out loud," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tweeted. "I stand ready to defend Texas against any infringement of our Second Amendment his failed administration will throw at us. #2A"

"Someone didn't read the Second Amendment," Fox News contributor Dan Bonginos website, the Bongino Report, posted along with an article stating that Bidens comments should "terrify" gun owners.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks while joining the White House Covid-19 Response Team's call with the National Governors Association. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"It was a lie in 2020," Townhalls Spencer Brown tweeted. "It was a lie in 2021. It's still a lie today. Despite being fact checked by PolitiFact and WaPo, Biden keeps lying to the American people as he attempts to undermine the Second Amendment."

In Bidens speech, he also drew ire from conservatives by claiming that a "Glock with 40 rounds" is a "weapon of war."

Revolvers are displayed for sale at Firearms Unknown, a gun store in Oceanside, California. REUTERS/Bing Guan

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"Biden is the worst gun grabber in decades," author J.D. Vance, who is running for Senate in Ohio as a Republican, tweeted. "Between this and the illegal ATF database, hes declared war on the Second Amendment."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.

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Biden repeats debunked Second Amendment cannon claim, says 'no amendment is absolute' - Fox News

(The Center Square) Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed legislation designed to protect Pennsylvania residents Second Amendment rights against municipalities that enact restrictive gun ordinances.

Once again, this governor has failed to live up to his oath to support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth, said Rep. Matthew Dowling, R-Fayette, sponsor of House Bill 979. By vetoing this bill, the governor has put the Second Amendment rights of every citizen in jeopardy, effectively encouraging communities to continue enacting illegal gun control measures.

The legislation would have established the state, not local governments, has the final say on regulations involving firearms and would have prevented municipalities from creating more restrictive rules.

HB 979 reads: The commonwealth, by this section, preempts and supersedes any manner of ordinance, resolution, regulation, rule, practice or other action promulgated or enforced by a municipality of firearms, ammunition, firearms components or ammunition components in this commonwealth, and any such action is declared null and void.

The legislation also would have allowed a person adversely affected by local ordinances or rules to sue for declarative or injunctive relief and actual damages, such as lost wages.

Wolf characterized HB 979 as an attack on local governments who take action to find commonsense solutions to gun violence in his veto message Thursday.

At a time when injuries and deaths from gun violence are spiking, House Bill 979 would discourage local jurisdictions from attempting to regulate firearms, Wolf wrote. In addition, it provides an opportunity for individuals to challenge local ordinances and sue a county, municipality, or township that violates the prohibition on stricter firearms laws.

Wolf pointed to Philadelphia, where Republican lawmakers repeatedly have highlighted declining conviction rates for gun crimes.

Under House Bill 979, Philadelphia, which saw more gun violence-related deaths than days in January, may have difficulty enforcing local laws that were created to curb the violence and save families and communities from continued heartache, Wolf wrote.

Wolf also likened the legislation to Senate Bill 565 to eliminate the requirement for a license to carry a concealed firearm that he vetoed last year.

When I vetoed Senate Bill 565 of 2021, a bill that would have allowed unvetted gun owners to carry concealed weapons through our streets, I stated that these victims and communities deserve to have meaningful legislation passed to address the scourge of gun violence. I stand by that, he wrote.

I have offered many ideas that would help keep Pennsylvanians safe while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners, including legislation to require safe storage, authorize extreme risk protection orders, enhance reporting requirements for lost or stolen guns and close gaps in the background check system and yet, I have not received a bill from the General Assembly that seeks to address this issue in a meaningful way.

Dowling said hes not giving up on his effort to protect gun rights.

While frustrated by the governors actions today, it comes as no surprise, he said. We will continue this fight in the days ahead.

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Wolf sides with local governments in rejecting gun rights bill - WFMZ Allentown

WASHINGTON Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) applauded todays House passage of two amendments he authored that will be part of the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act that will be considered on Friday.

One amendment, which combats foreign kleptocrats and which he offered with Congressman and Helsinki Commission Ranking member Joe Wilson (SC-02), contains both the Justice for Victims of Kleptocracy Act and the Foreign Corruption Accountability Act. The first bill mandates a public listing by country of stolen assets recovered in the United States and the second authorizes public visa bans against foreign individuals who demand bribes.

The second amendment, the Foreign Business Agent Act, which he offered with Congressman French Hill (AR-02), requires foreign business entities to assign and register agents with the Department of Commerce for service of process in legal and regulatory proceedings.

Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

These amendments are commonsense but overdue solutions to problems that hurt our countrys ability to compete. Kleptocracy threatens national security and human rights and has an impact on every global challenge we face today. From climate change and COVID to organized crime and human trafficking, kleptocrats either cause or worsen the problem.

Transparency and the rule of law are essential elements of fair and efficient business operations, but many foreign companies in the United States operate outside our legal system, beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and regulatory agencies. The Foreign Business Agent Act would remedy this legal gray area by requiring foreign business entities to assign and register agents with the Department of Commerce.

I am proud to work with my Republican colleagues in strengthening this important bill.

The full House of Representatives is expected to take up America COMPETES with Congressman Cohens amendments on Friday.

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Congressman Cohen Applauds Passage of His Amendments to the America COMPETES Act - Congressman Steve Cohen

Michael J. DeCicco| Correspondent for the Taunton Daily Gazette

Gun sales are up among women amid the coronavirus pandemic

Gun sales are up nationwide during the coronavirus pandemic andwomen are looking for firearm protection.

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BERKLEY Not only is Kerrie Ann Auclairthe secretary for the BerkleyConservation Commission she's alsothe owner of the town's "Dirty Bird Nail Salon"and a certified pistol instructor.

The latter designation is just as important to the Berkley resident as are her other two titles, she said.

She and Renee Gagne of Taunton volunteer as co-leaders of the Massachusetts chapter of "Armed Women of America,"a non-profitorganization dedicated to educating women in the proper use of firearms and the art of self-protection.

The group is an outgrowth of the two women's personal passions.

Auclair became a licensed gun owner in 2015 to protect her home and family when her husband began working a late-night third shift.

"Once I got my first firearm," Auclair said, "I realized it was important to get educated about its use.Women need to be educated gun owners to feel comfortable using one when we need it.That's why we started the chapter."

For Gagne, who by day works as an operating nurse at a local hospital, the interest in guns started a little earlier.She was first shown how shoot a rifle by her father when she was 6years old.

Real estate report: New Berkley home nearly doubles in value in six years

The motivation to own a gun came later, in her mid-30s, when she bought her first firearm to protect herself and her children as a single mother after getting divorced.

The motivation to create a firearms training program for women came quickly after that.

When Gagnewalked into her first firearms class ten years ago, she said, she was overwhelmed by what surrounded her.It was a man's world, and she felt intimidated by that environment.Women, she realized, needed an environment that they can feel safe learning in.

"Women need instruction from other women," Auclair said, "in a safe, comfortable environment.That's why we do this.We hear so many stories.Women want self-protection, to feel comfortable, to be a responsible gun owner."

The pair started the state chapter of the nationwide organization "Armed Women of America" in 2019. Its focus is firearms education workshops once a month at the Mansfield Fish and Game range, 501 East St.

Budding industry: Taunton retail pot dispute lands in Supreme Judicial Court's lap

The chapter currently includes 80 members coming from as far away as Cape Cod and Rhode Island. An average of 25-30 women attend each meeting. It is one of 325 "Armed Women of America" chapters spreadacross the country.

The local chapter's goals line up with those of the national non-profit organization: "To enable women to be their own self-protectors, creating freedom, peace of mind and confidence in themselves," the website states.

"We meet the second Monday of every month for educating and equipping women to reach their firearm goals," Auclair said.

The club's two goals, the pair said, are education and firearms practice.On the day they started the chapter in 2019, they werepleasantly surprised by the turnout: 40 women showed up, and 30 of them signed up.

They've learned a lot more about their members since then.

"They decide to join for different reasons," Gagne said."It's not just for self-defense. It's a sport.Some love target practice.Some hunt.Many just want help getting their gun license.For some, it's self-protection and home protection."

"They are single women living alone," Auclair added, "or domestic violence survivors having to be on their own.They are their own first responders if a threatening situation arises."

When they are not volunteering their time, the two are both NRA-certified pistol instructors and home firearms safety instructors who teach range firearm safety, independent of the chapter, at the Mansfield range.

"We've found that one Monday a month is not enough for what women need to learn," Auclair said."So we've obtained certification to branch off as firearm instruction for women individually."

Auclair said they are passionate about gun ownership for women, and education is a crucial component of that passion.

With anod toward the debate between gun control and Second Amendment gun ownership rights, she elaborated on how she views the issue, "A bad guy does not follow the rules of law. Restricting gun rights won't make the world safer. Education is the key to safety and learning responsible gun ownership. And addressing the mental illness component that causes these tragedies."

Auclair's gun rightsefforts are going even further right now. Her other volunteer effort is as the state director for the "DCProject" of Massachusetts, part of a nationwide non-profit nonpartisan gun rights advocacy organization for women.

The DC Project brings women, at least one from each state, to Washington D.C. to establish relationships with legislators and put a human face on firearms owners and Second Amendment supporters, Auclair said.

Next fall, Auclair will head to Washingtonon behalf of the DC Project.Auclair andher "delegate,"Renee Gagne, are also working on the DCProject'slocal fundraising and awareness raising campaign, which includes writing letters, testifying andsending emails to lawmakers on the issue of gun rights.

"We believe education, not legislation, is the key to safety, not gun control," Auclair said.

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Here's why Berkley and Taunton friends teach other women how to use guns - Taunton Daily Gazette

PAHRUMP, Nev. (KLAS) The Nye County Board of Commissioners voted in December to allow guns in most parts of the countys courthouses, but the judges, who decide the fates of their neighbors, tell the 8 News Now I-Team that decision is asking for trouble.

In a meeting on Dec. 16, the commissioners unanimously voted to remove a judicial order banning firearms in the Ian Deutch Government Complex, which houses both the Fifth Judicial District Court and the Pahrump Justice Court.

The county owns the building. The judiciary runs the courtrooms.

The judges say, according to the commissioners, does not apply outside of their chambers. That includes most of the building, including the hallways.

District Court Judge Kim Wankers concerns about her safety have prompted her to keep a gun safe on her bench.

I am certain its an incident waiting to happen, she said. Its not if it happens, its when it happens.

Wankers courtroom is through a set of double doors straight from the buildings lobby. When court is in session, her bailiff, a position recently vacant for a year, she said, will set up a metal detector at the courtroom door.

There is no security at the main entrance, which leads to the district attorneys office and to the clerk. County commissioners said they control the halls. A Nevada state law gives the control of county buildings to their respective commissioners.

In Clark County, entrances to the Regional Justice Center, home to the Eighth Judicial District Court and Las Vegas Justice Court, are flanked with security. The building also houses the Clark County District Attorneys Office.

I think that probably the greatest threat or risk for an incident is in the hallways or in the parking lot, Wanker said.

The four judges working out of the building enter through the same doors as the public.

The judges park out front, too.

We have a joke here, Wanker said. They finally approved the lighting to come in the front door. My staff laughs and says, Judge were so glad that they improved the lighting because now when they shoot from the dark parking lot, theyll be sure to get you and not us.

Wanker gave the I-Team a tour of the complex, which shares an address with the Nye County Sheriffs Office and the Nye County Jail.

A back door does not lock. It is right next to Wankers courtroom and the way prisoners enter the court complex from jail, she said.

In 2010, after several shootings at courthouses, including one at the federal building in Las Vegas, District Court Judge Robert Lane wrote an order forbidding firearms in the building and the courts other office in Tonopah. Instead, county employees could apply to carry concealed weapons.

The judicial order specifically mentions the courthouse and its courtrooms, chambers, offices, annexes and other rooms where a judicial proceeding may be underway.

Commissioner Bruce Jabbour, appointed to the commission in 2020 by Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, applied to carry his concealed weapon as the order dictates.

Jabbours request was denied.

Judge Lane and Judge Wanker have serious concerns for their safety, but obviously, no concern for the safety of others, including myself, Jabbour said during the December meeting.

In a 5-0 vote, the commissioners removed the order, meaning weapons would be allowed in the building except in immediate courtrooms and judicial offices. When the I-Team visited the complex, the signs remained on the doors.

Metal detectors remain in place at the entrance to the justice court, which was added to the building after it was built in 1999.

The court has no right to control access to these governmental offices simply because theyre in the same building as the court, Jabbour said.

Technically, based on the decision, you could walk in with an AR-15 rifle, Wanker said.

Three of the judges working in the building, Lane, Wanker and Justice Court Judge Kent Jasperson, said the issue is not about the Second Amendment. They are all gun owners.

The countys bargaining agreement with the Nye County Employee Association said employees can be terminated for bringing a gun to work.

The county shall have the right to discharge or discipline any employee for cause [for] carrying or possessing firearms or weapons while on the job, a line in the agreement said.

You dont need to have a gun here to resolve an issue, Jasperson said. The only thing a gun is going to do is aggravate the situation.

Its kind of an old West cowboy kind of thing, Lane said. Well have the shootout.

Security measures, like a $90,000 scanner, sit in storage. The judges said the county will not pay to staff it.

The scanner, paid for with grant money received through then-Sen. Harry Reids office, has sat in a storeroom for a decade, Wanker said.

Just because were rural, doesnt mean incidents arent going to happen, she said.

The I-Team asked the Nye County Sheriffs Office for a list of calls to the complex over the last 10 years. Deputies responded to the courts for everything from assaults to domestic disputes to threats.

Just last summer, a man who got into a shootout with deputies had threatened to come to the courthouse, Wanker said.

I ran from office to office pounding on the doors telling people to get away from the windows, active shooter on their way, she said.

The order also applies to the districts second location in Tonopah.

Jabbour declined an interview, saying his comments from the meeting would suffice. The board chair did not respond to a request for comment.

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I-Team: Its not if it happens, its when it happens, judges fear for safety after county allows guns in courthouse - KLAS - 8 News Now

As a Bowdoin student from central Maine, I have begun to realize that, in many ways, Maine is like two different states. To the Bowdoin students who are used to the liberal and welcoming politics of Brunswick and the greater Portland area, there is confusion as to how someone like Paul LePage was able to become the leader of such a seemingly open-minded state. Called Americas Trumpiest governor, LePage became infamous for his racist rants about drug traffickers and his obscene voicemail to a lawmaker who called attention to his racism. Just weeks into his tenure as governor, he shockingly told the NAACP to kiss his butt.

Understanding the popularity of LePage, who is now running for a third term as governor, is critical to understanding the totality of Maine, its people and its ongoing economic challenges.

As someone from the more rural and conservative part of the state, it is not surprising to me that LePage remained popular among so many of the white working-class Mainers who loathe the technological advancement and change associated with people from southern Maine, and especially with those from out of state. To these voters, LePage, being from the town of Lewistonwhich is known for its blue-collar rootsmeans more than just loyalty and understanding. His tenure as a manager of Mardens, a chain discount store popular in the state, gave him cache as a hardworking man of the people. His bluntness and willingness to offend the elites was also part of the appeal.

In addition, LePage plays into the us versus them mentality that has been exacerbated by the political and socioeconomic differences among Maines first and second congressional districts. To those from southern Maine, LePage and his supporters are often viewed as ignorant and bigoted people, stuck in the past and obstinately trusting the GOP to somehow save them from their economic failures. To many from the northern parts of the state, wealthy out-of-touch people and people from away are not seen as real Mainers and dont understand the struggle that comes from the loss of commerce and support that came with the shrinking of the mill industry in many communities. When people lament the popularity of figures like LePage and Donald Trump in Maine, blame is pushed onto the hicks for their closed-mindedness. This, in turn, causes conservative voters to feel distanced from the people and politics of the southern part of the state.

I recently heard that a student from out of state was told that everyone from north of Bangor is crazy. But this again speaks to the idea of the vastly different poles of the state of Maine. There is no line that divides the politics of Maine into normal and crazy or liberal and conservative. There is, however, the concept of a Volvo line that demarcates how the quality of life and values are believed to shift from yuppie millennials and crowded tourist towns to hunting and fishing enthusiasts who love the Second Amendment and use Facebook as their primary news source. But this line also speaks to issues of income inequality and wealth disparities in the state.

While these divisions are salient in situations like elections, they are not black and white. There are Bernie Bros in Presque Isle and Trump fans in Portland. Maines second congressional district (representing the northern four fifths of the state) has a Democrat for its representative. At its core, classism is a large component of the conversation, and disparities in education and income must be recognized. Generally, the further north you look in Maine, the lower the median household income becomes, the lower the level of education becomes and the more economic opportunity becomes scarce. While poverty is not the root of conservativeness, this gap in vitality is a source of contention.

Misplaced anger for Maines disparities elevates people like Paul LePage, who can make big promises to empower those who feel left behind and ignored, and who has a Trump-like persona of being tough on outsiders and having the best interests of the people of rural America at heart.

Not noticing and understanding the complexities of all of Maineincluding the parts of the state that are geographically far, and very different from, Brunswickcan lead to a simplistic understanding of Maines politics.

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A look outside the Bowdoin bubble - The Bowdoin Orient

A Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting where residents argued for and against impeaching board members. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Throughout Northern California, a swath of conservative, sparsely populated counties have headed in a dramatically different direction politically in recent years to the rest of the state. Nowhere is this more clear than in Shasta County, home of the magnificent Shasta Mountain as well as 179,000 residents, and a mecca to mountaineers and hikers from around the world. In November 2020, while two-thirds of California voters chose Biden over Trump, in Shasta those numbers were reversed. Nearly 63 percent of local voters supported the coup-plotting MAGA man.

Shasta, along with roughly a dozen other northern and eastern counties in the state, has a dismal Covid-vaccination ratejust over 50 percent have received one dose of the vaccine, but significantly under half the population has received two or more dosesand a political environment increasingly fractured around the issue of mask mandates, public health restrictions, and vaccine requirements. The low vaccination rates have, especially during the Omicron surge, translated to high rates of infection, hospitalization, and death. At the same time, conservative residents have grown increasingly hostile to any and all public health measures intended to rein in the pandemic.

Last year, a recall effort was launched against three members of the countys board of supervisors, whom activists deemed werent conservative enough, especially when it came to pandemic policies. One of the three campaigns, against supervisor Leonard Moty, got enough signatures to qualify for the ballotMoty says that his well-financed opponents targeted him, in particular, on the assumption that once he fell, the county government would immediately tilt toward the alt-right. The recall election was set for this past Tuesday, February 1.

Moty is a Republican, and the former police chief in the town of Redding; but, despite these credentials, he and two of his colleagues, Joe Chimenti and Mary Rickert, were targeted for recall by conservatives after they voted to censure the other two county supervisors, Les Baugh and Patrick Jones, for letting the public into the boards chambers on January 5 of 2021 in the face of a countywide order banning in-person meetings. The three were also criticized by conservative opponents for not withdrawing the county from Governor Newsoms color-tiered system, in place for more than a year, that set different levels of restrictions on businesses and on public gatherings depending on what the infection levels and test-positivity rates were in each county.

While not all of the votes have been tallied yet, early returns from Tuesdays election strongly indicate that Moty will lose the recall. As of Wednesday evening, the no-on-recall side was trailing the yes-on-recallers by more than 5 percent, and the conservative activists were preparing to evict Moty, whom they deride as a RINO (Republican In Name Only), from his county office.

With many thousands of mail-in votes still to be counted, it is, of course, still mathematically possible for Moty to emerge triumphant, but local media and Moty himself expect the recall to prevail. If the supervisor loses, the front-runner to replace him is a conservative anti-crime activist named Dale Ball who, ironically, has a slew of problems with the law in his own past. At least one local media outlet reported that in the 1990s, Ball picked up several DUIs and a couple other criminal charges. The Record Searchlight, a newspaper with a circulation of 30,000 based in the regions largest town, Redding, also reports that he was arrested in 2006 on child endangerment charges after apparently beating his girlfriends 13-year-old son with a flashlight. Ball claimed that he hit the boy in self-defense, and he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge in the case. He also argues that his long track record of volunteerism, including organizing efforts to clean up homeless encampments, ought to carry far more weight than a sixteen-year-old misdemeanor charge. (Moty counters that, yes, Ball did clean up the encampments, but he says that Ball also ran with a vigilante group that called itself the Redding Area Transient Patrol, more colloquially known as the Rat Patrol, because, says Moty, They consider homeless people to be rats, and they were going to clean up the rats.)

Whether or not Balls volunteerism was colored by a vicious animus against the homeless, as homeless advocates allege, and whether or not Balls somewhat dubious past should count against him a generation later, there remains the broader question of political affiliations. Both The Sacramento Bee and KQED, the local public radio station, report that if the recall effort succeeds, a majority of the county board of supervisors will be aligned with militias and with the Proud Boys. If that is indeed the case, Shasta will be the first county in California to elect a far-right majority to its board of supervisors. Its members will include those who want to turn the county into a Second Amendment sanctuary county, and who want to bypass all public health mandates around Covid. Current Issue

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Inevitably, this will put the rural county on course for a head-on collision with the state government. It will also likely trigger similar political upheavals over the coming election cycle in a number of other counties, school board districts, and town governments in the rural far north of the state.

Theyre extremists, my way or the highway, and theyll stop at nothing to get there, Moty told me earlier this week. They think federal and state government is the enemy, that counties should not accept federal and state money. But 85 percent of our budget comes from state and federal money. If we dont accept that money, itll be very hard to operate. Youd have to cease HHS services, homeless services, assistance for the mentally ill.

The alt-rights ascendancy in Shasta gives a window on what could be a fractious political future for Californias rural north. Collectively, the dozen or so rugged, mountainous counties of the north, all conservative, all with vaccination rates of under 50 percent, have a population of fewer than 2 million, or about 5 percent of the states population; but geographically they represent a large proportion of the states landmass. Over the past few years, these counties, so different from Californias urban south, have formed the heart of a growing movement to secede from California and to form a separate stateperhaps along with some of the more conservative rural counties in Oregonnamed Jefferson.

In 2014, voters in Tehama County voted, in a nonbinding election, to secede from California. Two other counties opted not to secede. That same year, however, several other county boards of supervisors also voted to explore the concept of secession, with three of them voting to secedefrom the state. More recently, pro-Jefferson secessionists have detailed ambitious maps showing that the new state would include 23 of Californias 58 counties, taking with it roughly 2.5 million of the states nearly 40 million residents. As with Shasta, these counties are overwhelmingly rural and conservative, and, in the Covid era, they tend to be under-vaccinated and hostile to statewide mandates, though not all of them to quite the same extent as is Shasta. In last years recall election against Governor Newsom, all but one of the counties east and north of Sacramento voted in favor of recalling the Democrat.

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Shastas recall vote this week doesnt bring the fever dream of Jefferson any closer to being implemented, but it does send a warning shot across Sacramentos bows. There are powerful conservative and radical-right currents swirling below the surface, even in deep-blue states like California, and the pandemic is continuing to provide combustible fuel for this political conflagration.

This is going to be the model they are going to use to try to take over a lot of other rural counties, says Moty, as he contemplates the new political realities of his county. If they can do this to me, with my history and reputation in the county, they can do it to anyone. And then it will be school boards and city councils next.

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Californias Red Counties - The Nation

Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims is making it clear how he feels about the constitutional carry bills now before the legislature.

In a recent interview, Alabama Sheriffs Association Executive Director Bobby Timmons reportedly said Americans dont have the right to carry a handgun and that he would be in favor of changing the Constitution to limit the Second Amendment.

Bobby Timmons may be our Executive Director but he does not speak for us all, Sims said. I am a Republican conservative sheriff. I believe in the Second Amendment and I support the Second Amendment. He does not speak for me and what he said does not reflect my views as the sheriff of this county.

Sims said there are several bills being looked at in the session right now that involve the constitutional carry, also known as permit-less carry.

I have read several of the bills and am working with our local delegation and with our Lieutenant Governors office to help make the bills better, Sims continued.

In HB-66, or House Bill 66, there are some things I would like to see added to it.

Sims said many things are important to address.

In this bill, what I would like to see is a more definitive answer as to certain persons who are forbidden to carry guns, he continued. Examples are anyone convicted of a felony needs to be added to this bill. Right now, in Alabama, if you are convicted of a non-violent felony, you can posses a pistol. Its contrary to federal law. Alabama law conflicts with federal law, in that part of it. I want to see that if you are convicted of a felony, until you get it expunged, you cant have a pistol.

These will go to the repeat offenders who have low level felonies, like drugs offenses, burglaries, thefts, interference with custody, those type things. Another thing Id like to see addressed is people who are out on bond for felony arrests. No matter what the arrest is, if you are out on bond for a felony arrest, I dont believe those people have the right to carry a pistol until their case is disposed of. That needs to be addressed in this bill, Sims continued.

Another thing I would like to see more definitive is our mental health issues that we face. We are in a mental health crisis right now. Some of the most dangerous calls that we answer are mental health related. I would like to see that be addressed. For instance, if you have been involuntarily committed, those people should not have a weapon or firearm until they are cleared by a medical doctor.

Sims says taking away pistol permits actually hurts his officers.

If permits were gone, we couldnt track people who have come from out of state and have felony convictions. Right now, we can track it because we can check peoples permits, he said. We need to have those things addressed in the bill so when we do come across those people who get guns, we need to have a tool to be able to take that gun away from that person. Yes, they are going to get guns but if we dont have a tool to take it from them, we cant take the gun.

Sims said he would even be willing to negotiate and give up the permits, as long as they can maintain a way for law enforcement to still take the guns off the streets from those who should not have them.

Pistol permits are $10 a year and the revenue greatly helps law enforcement, Sims said. If the permits were dropped, that revenue would then have to come from somewhere else.

The pistol permit fees go into a discretionary account that is audited by the the Public Examiners of the State, he said. Those funds go to things like training, guns, ammo, sending deputies to the academy, vehicles sometimes, new training facilities and even a new firing range weve never had.

My goal is to see that the permits remain, if nothing else, as voluntary. I think citizens would buy a permit and want to continue to support their local law enforcement, Sims said.

A pistol permit can also be used as an ID in the State of Alabama.

No doubt about it. I think if law abiding citizens want to carry guns, they have the right to. Theres no question about that, Sims said.

Timmons has come under fire from gun groups for his statements.

Link:
Sheriff working with law makers on constitutional carry bills - Sand Mountain Reporter