Gun sanctuary vote set
Supervisors plan vote about firearms rights
A proposal to declare a “Second Amendment Preservation County” comes up for a vote today before the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
The usually non-controversial Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will wade into the debate over gun rights during a public meeting Wednesday.
The five-member board will vote on a declaration making Maricopa County a “Second Amendment Preservation County.”
If passed, the declaration would affirm the Board of Supervisors’ support of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the provision of the Arizona constitution that protects the right to bear arms.
It would also prohibit the board from appropriating “government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers or officers to infringe on the people’s constitutional rights, including the right to keep and bear arms.”
Essentially, the county would promise not to provide any money or resources to enforce potential future gun laws that the board believes violates the Second Amendment.
Apache, La Paz, Mohave and Yavapai counties have passed similar “Second Amendment Sanctuary” resolutions.
Rep. Leo Biasiucci, R-Lake Havasu City, introduced a bill earlier this year that would take the concept statewide and make any federal laws viewed as infringing on the Second Amendment null, void and unenforceable in Arizona.
The bill also would bar the state government and local governments from helping enforce any law that is seen as infringing on the Second Amendment.
The bill does not appear to be heading anywhere soon. Republican leadership has not scheduled it for a required public hearing.
There is no imminent concern of restrictive gun laws coming from the federal level. But with the presidency up for grabs in November, Republicans are pushing these proposals across the country.
Republicans say they’re necessary to ward off possible attacks on the Second Amendment if a Democrat is elected president. Democrats often brush off these nullification efforts as
scare tactics to rile up voters who are passionate about guns.
Hundreds of other cities, counties and states have adopted these measures. But if Maricopa County adopts the resolution, it will be the largest county in the United States to do so.
The resolution is uncharacteristic for the Board of Supervisors, which typically refrains from taking up hot-button issues.
Four of the five supervisors are Republicans and all of them are up for election this year.
Board chairman Clint Hickman said he serves on the County Supervisors Association of Arizona, and that’s where he learned about some of the rural counties pursuing additional protections of the Second Amendment.
He said that after Mohave County adopted a resolution, he began receiving phone calls from his constituents asking why Maricopa County hadn’t pursued something similar.
“It seemed like people are getting more and more concerned,” Hickman said. “It got loud out there.”
He said he hopes there aren’t imminent plans for the federal government to impose tough gun laws, but “I’m concerned when my citizens are concerned.”
“This one I felt needed to be addressed,” Hickman said.