By: Teresa Mull
With 61 percent of counties now a part of the “Second Amendment Sanctuary” movement, chances are there’s a place near you that is rejecting the Biden administration’s threats to right to keep and bear arms.
“The website, Sanctuary Counties, found on June 20 that there are now 1,930 counties that are “protected by Second Amendment Sanctuary legislation at either the state or county level,” representing 61 percent of all counties,” the Epoch Times reports.
Indeed, as GPM readers know, the number of people embracing their Second Amendment rights has reached record levels over the past year. Data shows there were 4.3 million “excessive” gun sales last year – meaning more than normal – and that 40 percent of those were to first-time gun buyers. (Read more about that here.) Our friend, Rep. Lauren Boebert, thanks her Democratic colleagues for this surge in Americans acquiring the means to defend themselves.
As states become increasingly polarized, we see anti-gun states enact more severe gun control, and pro-gun states relax gun laws, granting their residents access to the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.
San Jose, for instance, in California, has a proposal on the table to tax gun owners an additional fee, require that they take out extra insurance when they purchase a gun, and is threatening to confiscate their guns if they fail to adhere to these burdensome mandates.
Texas, by contrast, by adopting Constitutional Carry, has removed the requirement that Texans ask the government permission before exercising their Second Amendment rights.
What’s more, a new study shows the increase in guns has had nothing to do with the recent uptick in crime that’s erupted across our country. The study’s author, rather than blame guns, said in an interview that we should be looking at “other factors, like job loss, economic change, the closure of schools and community organizations and nonprofits, and civil unrest” as the root of the violence.
Is the 2A Sanctuary Movement Effective?
GPM has analyzed the sanctuary movement, and Chris Stone, Communications Director for the National Association for Gun Rights, explained to GPM that Second Amendment Sanctuary Cities and their accompanying resolutions are not enforceable. That doesn’t mean they are worthless, however. Stone says:
“The best thing about the Second Amendment Sanctuary City movement is that it’s firing up grassroots gun owners and bringing new gun owners into the fight. Law-abiding gun owners are beginning to see how insidious gun control laws truly are – but they also realize that there’s power in citizen activism.”
Of course, large swaths of constituencies standing up and making their voices heard in favor of the Second Amendment serve as a wake-up call for lackadaisical politicians who are prone to becoming complacent when it comes to gun rights. What these sanctuary movements can effect are, as Stone notes…
“Instead, we’d love to see more state legislatures pass preemption laws – laws which state that cities, counties, and localities cannot pass their own gun control schemes. Governors and legislators should be standing up and protecting states’ rights on a large scale – enshrining in law that cities, counties, and localities cannot regulate a protected, incorporated constitutional right.
“Statewide preemption laws, and, of course, the passage of Constitutional Carry, enables law-abiding citizens real protection from federal overreach. Also, states passing anti-Red Flag Gun Confiscation laws is a good measure.”
For guidelines on how to go about creating your own Second Amendment Sanctuary, read our helpful article here.
Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.