Wild Wild West

Sumner County has joined a growing list of Tennessee local governments in passing a resolution that asks local law enforcement to ignore duly passed state and federal laws regarding guns. On Monday night, the Sumner County Commission passed the "Wild West" resolution, essentially declaring the "unalienable right" to keep and bear arms. The resolution's language interprets the U.S. Constitution and multiple Supreme Court decisions in a way that views most or all regulations on gun possession and sale as an "infringement" on an individual's rights.

Specifically, the resolution says:

The sanctuary county resolution was first introduced by Commissioner Jeremy Mansfield and states that Sumner County “will not authorize or appropriate government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers, or offices for the purpose of enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of any element of such acts, laws, orders, mandates, rules or regulations” that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms as described in the nearly three-page document.

A copy of the full resolution can be found on page 38 here.

The resolution passed 18-4 with only Commissioners Krueger, Ring, Echols, and DeWitt voting "NO."

The Hendersonville Standard reports on Commissioner Baker Ring's reservations:

“Our oath of office says we are to support and defend the constitution of the State of Tennessee and the constitution of the United States,” Ring said. “I cannot vote for the original resolution with wording in there that tells us we must violate state law if we pass this.”

Rather than take a firm stand, County Executive Anthony Holt responded in typical weasel-word fashion:

 

Sumner County Mayor Anthony Holt said Monday that he would not veto the resolution. He also called for civility among everyone involved in the debate.

“Nobody… me, any elected official (or) any commissioner is going to take anybody’s guns in Sumner County,” Holt added. “I don’t know of anybody here that… needs to be demonized because they really believe that everyone’s Second Amendment rights needs to be protected.”

If the Sumner County Sheriff's office follows the plain language of the resolution, they would be in violation of state and federal law regarding guns.


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County Commission Passes Wild West Gun Resolution

A so-called "gun rights" resolution that, if followed, would turn Sumner County into the "Wild West" passed the County Commission on Monday night, with only four County Commissioners demonstrating the intellectual fortitude to vote "NO".

The four NO votes: Caroline Krueger, Loren Echols, Baker Ring, and Deanne DeWitt.

The resolution was sponsored by Commission gadfly Jeremy Mansfield, who last year opposed efforts to direct new county funding to schools, the jail, and infrastructure improvements.

According to the Hendersonville Standard, the Mansfield "wild west" resolution would:

The original version of the resolution stated that Sumner County would “not authorize or appropriate government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers, or offices for the purpose of enforcing or assisting in the enforcement” of anything that would “infringe on the right by the people to keep and bear arms as described” in a three-page document.

Essentially, the resolution calls on the Sumner County Sheriff's Office to ignore state and federal laws regarding gun possession and instead to follow a "purist" interpretation of the 2nd Amendment that means gun possession should not be restricted or regulated in any way.

Sumner County joins 25 other Tennessee counties in passing some version of this resolution.

County Commission Candidates 2014

From information provided by incumbent County Commission Baker Ring of Gallatin

2014 Elections, County Commission

First District:
Mike Akins (running)
Moe Taylor (running)

Second District:
Billy Geminden (running)
*Shawn Utley (not running)
...

running:
Jennifer Briley Anderson (running)
Larry Hinton (running)




Third District:
Steve Graves (running)
David Satterfield 
running:
Alan Driver


Fourth District:
*Joe Matthews (running for Circuit Court clerk) (not running for CC)

Frank E. Freels 

Fifth District:
Ben Harris (running)
Baker Ring (running)

Sixth District:
Jim Vaughn (running)
*Paige Brown Strong (not running)
Kevin Pomeroy

Seventh District:
*Trisha LeMarbre

Kirk Moser (running)
Eighth District:
Paul Decker (running)
Merrol Hyde (running)

Ninth District:
*Chris Hughes (not running)
*David Kimbrough (not running)
running:
Jerry Becker
Chris Taylor
Mark Nodini
Benjamin McCroskey


Tenth District:
Jo Skidmore (running)
Paul Goode (running)
running:
Caroline Shoemaker Krueger (running)


Eleventh District:
Paul Freels
Jerry Stone (running)

Twelfth District:
Bob Pospisil (running)
Michael Guthrie (running)


* denotes not running
bold deotes running again
italics denotes has voted against school funding in 2011-2012