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2018-11-17 23:36:47 UTC
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Washington police chief proposes ‘2nd Amendment Sanctuary City’ law
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BY HANNA SCOTT
NOVEMBER 16, 2018 AT 2:53 PM
(City of Republic Police Department)
The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation have now sued to block I-1639,
the sweeping gun control initiative just passed by voters that, among
other things, raises the age to buy semi-automatic rifles to 21. But
even before the legal challenge, a police chief in a small Eastern
Washington town declared he would not enforce the new gun rules and has
moved to establish a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.”
RELATED: NRA, Second Amendment Foundation suing WA over I-1639
Initiative 1639 won nearly 60 percent of the vote, but most of that came
from counties west of the Cascades. It was overwhelmingly rejected by
all but two eastern Washington counties, including Ferry County, where
the police chief of the small town of Republic — population about 1,100
— never expected the initiative to pass.
“I couldn’t see the Washington state voters if they would have read this
initiative, which I doubt most of them did, I couldn’t see most of the
voters in Washington state voting this in,” said Republic Police Chief
Loren Culp.
He was appalled when he realized it had passed.
“It is an initiative that totally tramples on the rights of citizens.
Mostly in the 18 to 21 year old range, but it also requires people to
submit to invasion of their privacy through their medical records. It’s
totally against my oath of office which is to uphold and defend the
Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Washington
state and I will not enforce it,” Culp explained.
2nd Amendment Sanctuary City
Not only did the Chief decide he and his officer’s would not enforce the
strict new gun laws, he took the issue to the city council last week in
the form of a resolution, he later posted on Facebook proposing the
jurisdiction become a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.”
“That says that the City of Republic will not enforce any of the rules
or regulations that violate citizens rights to include the Second
Amendment and the Article 1 Section 24 of the state Constitution which
states that ‘the right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense
of himself or the state shall not be impaired’ and this definitely
impairs the constitutional rights of citizens,” Culp said.
From his perspective as a cop, he is simply doing his duty and there is
no alternative.
“I couldn’t enforce this anymore than I could enforce a law being passed
that says citizens don’t have the right to peacefully assemble or speak
their mind or attend a church of their choice. It’s a constitutional
right just like those are, and I can’t imagine any law enforcement
officer going against oath of office to enforce any of the other
constitutional amendments and I can’t see anyone in their right minds
that would enforce this either,” Culp said.
Beyond the constitutional issues he says there are other concerns with
the new rules, including criminalizing safe storage, defining every semi
automatic rifle as an assault weapon and more.
In addition to asking his District 7 state legislators to introduce
similar legislation in the upcoming session, Culp’s 2nd Amendment
Sanctuary City resolution also calls on other local jurisdictions to
join Republic’s effort by passing their own sanctuary legislation. And
he says they’re already hearing from interested communities.
National attention
The small town is also getting national attention after Ted Nugent — a
passionate defender of the Second Amendment — shared Chief Culp’s post
on Thursday and again today praising Chief Culp as an “American freedom
warrior.”
Chief Culp expects the issues surrounding I-1639 will be resolved in
court, but no matter what happens there or at the city council level, he
says he and his officers will not enforce those gun laws.
The chief has strong support from Republic’s mayor and others in the
city so he is hopeful the council will have his back and approve the
resolution. The council is set to take the issue up at a Monday meeting,
but it is not clear if they will be ready for a vote. They are looking
to possible consequences of such an action, something Chief Culp was not
concerned with.
“There is no legal basis for any lawsuit against me for not enforcing
this. The legal basis is Article 1 Section 24 of the state Constitution
and if they want to use that as toilet paper then I guess they can do
whatever they want,” Culp said.
The state Attorney General’s office would only say that it will review
the ordinance should it pass.
RELATED: Doctors to NRA: Talking gun control is ‘in our lane’
254 Comments
http://mynorthwest.com/1188416/republic-2nd-amendment-sanctuary-city/
Washington police chief proposes ‘2nd Amendment Sanctuary City’ law
Share
BY HANNA SCOTT
NOVEMBER 16, 2018 AT 2:53 PM
(City of Republic Police Department)
The NRA and Second Amendment Foundation have now sued to block I-1639,
the sweeping gun control initiative just passed by voters that, among
other things, raises the age to buy semi-automatic rifles to 21. But
even before the legal challenge, a police chief in a small Eastern
Washington town declared he would not enforce the new gun rules and has
moved to establish a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.”
RELATED: NRA, Second Amendment Foundation suing WA over I-1639
Initiative 1639 won nearly 60 percent of the vote, but most of that came
from counties west of the Cascades. It was overwhelmingly rejected by
all but two eastern Washington counties, including Ferry County, where
the police chief of the small town of Republic — population about 1,100
— never expected the initiative to pass.
“I couldn’t see the Washington state voters if they would have read this
initiative, which I doubt most of them did, I couldn’t see most of the
voters in Washington state voting this in,” said Republic Police Chief
Loren Culp.
He was appalled when he realized it had passed.
“It is an initiative that totally tramples on the rights of citizens.
Mostly in the 18 to 21 year old range, but it also requires people to
submit to invasion of their privacy through their medical records. It’s
totally against my oath of office which is to uphold and defend the
Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Washington
state and I will not enforce it,” Culp explained.
2nd Amendment Sanctuary City
Not only did the Chief decide he and his officer’s would not enforce the
strict new gun laws, he took the issue to the city council last week in
the form of a resolution, he later posted on Facebook proposing the
jurisdiction become a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City.”
“That says that the City of Republic will not enforce any of the rules
or regulations that violate citizens rights to include the Second
Amendment and the Article 1 Section 24 of the state Constitution which
states that ‘the right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense
of himself or the state shall not be impaired’ and this definitely
impairs the constitutional rights of citizens,” Culp said.
From his perspective as a cop, he is simply doing his duty and there is
no alternative.
“I couldn’t enforce this anymore than I could enforce a law being passed
that says citizens don’t have the right to peacefully assemble or speak
their mind or attend a church of their choice. It’s a constitutional
right just like those are, and I can’t imagine any law enforcement
officer going against oath of office to enforce any of the other
constitutional amendments and I can’t see anyone in their right minds
that would enforce this either,” Culp said.
Beyond the constitutional issues he says there are other concerns with
the new rules, including criminalizing safe storage, defining every semi
automatic rifle as an assault weapon and more.
In addition to asking his District 7 state legislators to introduce
similar legislation in the upcoming session, Culp’s 2nd Amendment
Sanctuary City resolution also calls on other local jurisdictions to
join Republic’s effort by passing their own sanctuary legislation. And
he says they’re already hearing from interested communities.
National attention
The small town is also getting national attention after Ted Nugent — a
passionate defender of the Second Amendment — shared Chief Culp’s post
on Thursday and again today praising Chief Culp as an “American freedom
warrior.”
Chief Culp expects the issues surrounding I-1639 will be resolved in
court, but no matter what happens there or at the city council level, he
says he and his officers will not enforce those gun laws.
The chief has strong support from Republic’s mayor and others in the
city so he is hopeful the council will have his back and approve the
resolution. The council is set to take the issue up at a Monday meeting,
but it is not clear if they will be ready for a vote. They are looking
to possible consequences of such an action, something Chief Culp was not
concerned with.
“There is no legal basis for any lawsuit against me for not enforcing
this. The legal basis is Article 1 Section 24 of the state Constitution
and if they want to use that as toilet paper then I guess they can do
whatever they want,” Culp said.
The state Attorney General’s office would only say that it will review
the ordinance should it pass.
RELATED: Doctors to NRA: Talking gun control is ‘in our lane’
254 Comments