Clark now a Second Amendment sanctuary county
Published 12:10 pm Friday, January 24, 2020
Mike Sosby berated members of the Clark County Fiscal Court during the public discussion part of the meeting Thursday when members of the audience were discussing a proposal to make Clark a sanctuary county for Second Amendment rights. (Photo by Randy Patrick)
It was standing room only for the Fiscal Court meeting Thursday night as supporters of a sanctuary county resolution on the Second Amendment crowded the courtroom and the hallway. (Photo by Randy Patrick)
Mike Sosby signs the roster to speak to the Clark County Fiscal Court during the public discussion Thursday of a proposal to make Clark a sanctuary county for Second Amendment rights. (Photo by Randy Patrick)
The Fiscal Court meeting room overflowed into the hallway Thursday night as citizens crowded in to voice support for a resolution to make Clark County a sanctuary county that opposes gun control laws. The proposal passed unanimously. (Photo by Randy Patrick)
Magistrate Greg Elkins discusses an issue at the Fiscal Court meeting Thursday. (Photo by Randy Patrick)
Magistrate Chris Davis discusses an issue at the Fiscal Court meeting Tuesday. (Photo by Randy Patrick)
Second Amendment enthusiasts filled every seat in the Clark County Fiscal Court’s meeting room, lined the walls and spilled out into the hallway to show their support for the amendment and a resolution to make Clark County a “sanctuary” from gun control laws.
The resolution passed unanimously.
Members of the local affiliate of Kentucky United, the group leading the sanctuary county movement, were among those who spoke in favor of the measure. As of Friday morning, their Facebook page had nearly 1,100 members, and many more had signed a petition.
“We don’t have a gun problem, we have a people problem,” Fred Wilcoxson, one of the leaders of the group, said in his opening remarks. “We, the people of Clark County … are here to tell you that we will not let any infringement of our Second Amendment rights happen.”
The Supreme Court in recent years has ruled that gun rights are individual rights.
John Williams of Big Stoner Road called them “natural, God-given rights, not government-granted rights.”
Jeremy Blair, another leader of the Clark County Kentucky United group, mentioned the gun rights rally at Virginia’s state capitol on Jan. 20. Two days later, the state’s legislators passed a “red flag” law to temporarily take guns away from people whom a judge decides are threats to themselves if family members or police request it.
A proposed red flag law in Kentucky has fueled the sanctuary movement in Kentucky, although Republican legislative leaders say one has no chance of passing.
Opponents of red flag laws that are intended to keep mentally ill people from committing homicides or suicides say it denies the constitutional right of due process, but courts have upheld them in other states.
“We must stay diligent, we must stay active, and we must defend the Constitution,” Blair said.
Some who spoke at the courthouse Thursday, including Leland True and Mike Sosby, didn’t address the gun rights issue specifically, but scolded Fiscal Court members for not holding the meeting at a location that could accommodate more people.
Sosby became agitated, called individual magistrates liars and questioned their manhood.
“You all aren’t man enough to take this thing to an annex” where everyone who wants can be seen and heard, he said.
“You’ll compose yourself, or I’ll ask you to leave,” Judge-Executive Chris Pace said.
When Sosby continued to rant, he asked Sheriff Berl Perdue to escort him from the room, but Sosby left on his own.
Before voting on the resolution, Pace and Magistrates Robert Blanton, Greg Elkins and Chris Davis spoke in favor of it.
Pace said when he ran for office, his opponents made fun of his commitment to gun rights, but he wanted people to know he supports them “now and forever.”
Blanton said government needs to concentrate its efforts not on firearms but on the people who use them to commit crimes.
“We must stay vigilant,” Elkins said.
Davis said gun control laws are sometimes well-intended, but “get hijacked” by people who want to use tragedies to push radical agendas, and he mentioned that was evident in what is happening in Virginia, formerly a Republican stronghold where the governor’s office and legislature are now held by Democrats who support gun control.
“You’re just an election or two away from seeing those rights eroded and undermined,” Davis warned. “Don’t let go of this. You stay after those state representatives, state senators and the governor. Because in the state of Virginia, all of that chagnged in November of last year.”
Many Kentucky counties have passed similar sanctuary county resolutions, including this week in Jessamine County. In Nelson County, however, Fiscal Court members substituted its own resolution supporting the Second Amendment for one Kentucky United had proposed because County Attorney Matthew Hite felt a state law intended to prohibit local governments from passing their own gun control laws, KRS 65.870, also forbids counties from getting involved in the conflict on the other side.
The statute says no local government “may occupy any part of the field of regulation of the manufacture, sale, purchase, taxation, transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, storage or transportation of firearms,” and that any ordinance, order, regulation, policy or rule is “null, void and unenforceable.”
About Randy Patrick
Randy Patrick is a reporter for Bluegrass Newsmedia, which includes The Jessamine Journal. He may be reached at 859-759-0015 or by email at randy.patrick@bluegrassnewsmedia.com.
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