Law Enforcement Convention Stands up for Second Amendment

Liberty News – by Mitch Odom

Law enforcement officers from across the nation met in St. Charles, Missouri this past Friday and Saturday. They were attending the annual Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association convention. Law enforcement officers, state lawmakers, county officials and concerned citizens were in attendance.

These are law enforcement officials who reject new gun control legislation whether on the state or federal level. Many of them are active in efforts to nullify gun control laws that have already been put in place.  

Back in January, Police Chief Mark Kessler of Gilberton Burough, Pa., drafted a “Second Amendment Protection Resolution” for the small town of 800 people that he serves. City officials passed the resolution that “nullified every single gun-control law in the nation.”

Kessler said at the convention,

“I have a very unique view. If you want to own a firearm, carry a gun under your jacket or over your jacket, the Second Amendment is your concealed carry permit, period. … It has nothing to do with self-defense; it has to do with [freedom from] tyranny.”

Kessler also told the conference,

“Nullification is the key. We just have to tell them, ‘That’s it.’ I drew my line in the sand back on Jan. 3. … One person can make a difference; you just need to do something about it.”

Michael Peroutka an attorney and former Constitution Party candidate for president spoke to the convention about Carroll County, Md., which adopted a resolution declaring it a “Second Amendment sanctuary county.”

The resolution declares the Maryland Firearms Safety Act of 2013, or MFSA – which reportedly bans the sale of 45 types of rifles and magazines and requires law-abiding citizens to submit to licensing fees, background checks, fingerprinting and renewal fees – clearly violates the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution along with Article 2 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. The resolution further declares that the unconstitutional provisions of the act will not be enforced in Carroll County.

Peroutka said,

“When a peace officer refuses to enforce an unconstitutional act, the peace officer is not breaking the law, but upholding the law.”

The resolution quotes Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper No. 78:

“No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.”

http://www.libertynews.com/2013/06/law-enforcement-convention-stands-up-for-second-amendment/