County becomes gun “sanctuary.”

PHOENIX » Arizona’s most populous county on Wednesday joined a national movement in which areas are declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries and proclaiming support for gun ownership rights.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted in Phoenix to declare one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties a “Second Amendment Preservation County,” following dozens of counties nationwide and four others in Arizona that have approved similar symbolic resolutions meant to stave off guncontrol policies that could be seen as unconstitutional.

The resolution in Maricopa County, which has about 4.4 million residents, simply says the board supports the right to own guns. The proposal lost some of its edge when the board dropped a stipulation that government funds would not be used to infringe on gun rights.

Supervisor Steve Gallardo, a Democrat, denounced the politically charged resolution. “Let’s think about this. A resolution should not be divisive,” he said. “It should not be partisan.”