County meeting focuses on guns

‘Sanctuary’ law study expected

BENTONVILLE — Michelle Chiocco thought of her parents as a sanctuary conversation hummed around her last week.

Chiocco, a Republican justice of the peace from Bella Vista, said Benton County’s Quorum Court needed more discussion on whether the county should delve into Second Amendment/Bill of Rights sanctuary status in some way.

Chiocco spoke of her parents at last week’s Committee of the Whole meeting. Both came from Eastern European countries then ruled by communists and lacking basic rights. Her father was from Hungary and her mother from Romania. They emigrated to Canada, and, after gaining sponsorship, became United States citizens, she said.

“My parents were so proud to be American citizens,” Chiocco said. “They just grabbed on to what America stands for.”

The Bill of Rights is important to her as a first-generation U.S.-born citizen, she said.

The Quorum Court on Thursday night is expected to form a subcommittee to study proposals for a resolution or an ordinance on the topic. Establishing a subcommittee was a wise

move, Chiocco said.

“It definitely needs to be talked about more. It’s a big deal,” she said. “We’ve talked about a courthouse for years. This at least bears some discussion. It’s an important issue.”

Scott County passed a “Bill of Rights Ordinance” last month, and Independence County recently passed a “Second Amendment County Resolution.”

The Arkansas effort is part of a national trend taking root in Western states and in Virginia, in particular, where more than 100 cities and counties have passed some sort of Second Amendment sanctuary resolution. The states and towns are declaring themselves a “sanctuary” to protect the Second Amendment.

Benton County was pulled into the sanctuary debate after members of the Libertarian Party submitted a proposed Second Amendment/Bill of Rights sanctuary ordinance to the Quorum Court Committee of the Whole last month, then discussed it Tuesday night.

Lines for and against sanctuary formed quickly at the committee meeting last week. One group fiercely backed an ordinance, saying a resolution was essentially worthless. Another group argued the county didn’t need to endorse a resolution or ordinance, saying those protections already exist in the U.S. Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution.

County Attorney George Spence wrote a one-page resolution mentioning the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 2, Section 5, of the Arkansas Constitution.

Based on feedback from some justices of the peace, he also will try to come up with an ordinance that would pass legal muster.

Michael Kalagias of Rogers, in an email sent to media last month before sanctuary talk heated up, said an ordinance “will protect the citizens of Benton County from government infringements on their protected rights and ability to protect themselves.”

“Such measures are becoming necessary as federal and state governments continue to enact unconstitutional laws and policies,” Kalagias wrote.

Kalagias, a Libertarian, is a candidate for the 3rd Congressional District seat held by Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers.

Larry Concannon of Bella Vista said protections are already in place so no need exists for an ordinance or resolution.

Concannon is chairman of the Benton County Democratic Party.

“What’s the point?” he said. The Quorum Court has a lot of other things it needs to focus on, he said. “We don’t need this.”

Arkansas quorum courts shouldn’t attempt to pass gun sanctuary ordinances that conflict with state or federal law, Mike Rainwater, attorney for the Association of Arkansas Counties Risk Management Fund, told Arkansas’ 75 county judges in a Feb. 6 letter.

Instead, they could pass a resolution if they want to voice their support for the Second Amendment, Rainwater wrote. Rainwater provided a draft resolution for counties to consider, but he noted neither the association nor its Risk Management Fund were taking a stand on the issue.