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.