By Eric Valentine
February in Camas County could be the month of love, for gun rights at least, if an effort by the Camas County Republican Women passes muster with elected officials.
On its Feb. 11 agenda, the City of Fairfield will consider the group’s proposal to make itself a so-called Second Amendment “sanctuary city” where leadership asserts in a resolution that its jurisdiction does not recognize any federal or state gun control legislation as constitutional, and therefore will not enforce those laws. On its Feb. 16 agenda, the Camas County Board of Commissioners will consider the same.
“A woman posted on (social media) a newspaper article about the City of Kuna passing the resolution and asking why Camas County could not do the same. She inspired me to call a meeting of the Camas (County) Republican Women; we voted unanimously to do the resolution,” explained resident Leigh Weidman.
In the state of Idaho, there are currently three cities to declare themselves sanctuary cities for firearms owners: Kuna, Star, and Eagle.
Weidman said in preparation for the February meetings her group is collecting in-person and digital signatures for a petition stating support for the sanctuary effort.
Weidman explained in an email that a local, NRA-certified (National Rifle Association) instructor contacted a committee on which she is a voting member requesting the committee create a resolution for the sanctuary status. Three members of that committee, Weidman said, had a private meeting that excluded her and another member.
“Their decision was a resolution (would be) redundant and they were not interested,” writes Weidman.
Whether such sanctuary declarations have any teeth remains unclear. Much depends on two things: 1) How will local law enforcement amend their enforcement policies? and 2) Will gun reform advocates file lawsuits in an effort to negate sanctuary statuses?
