Rich Ruggles. (Carroll County photo.)
Carroll County has become the sixth so-called “Second Amendment Sanctuary County” in Iowa.
The Board of Supervisors took the vote this morning. Supervisor Rich Ruggles said he listened to a lot of people on both sides of the argument.
“I believe that the Constitution has been bent a lot lately and I’m quite concerned and I don’t want to give any traction or footing on this issue,” he said. “As I also read this is kind of symbolic that we do this. It really has no teeth. It has not much bearing, but I also think it’s a clear message that we send this to legislative people from a local level.”
Carroll County Attorney John Werden said he reviewed several drafts of similar policies adopted by counties in Iowa and Missouri.
“I think the only thing that is really political about this is it uses the word ‘sanctuary’ in the right way,” Werden said, “Sanctuary cities and counties — that has been code word for those who want to disobey the law, for those who want to want to ignore federal law in other areas, so I think it’s great that we’ve co-opted their word and used it for the law abiding citizens of this county.”
Members of the public attended today’s meeting and some spoke before the vote was taken. Dick Searle said the resolution is “purely propaganda” and a scare tactic.
“The people who are sponsoring this thing have tried to scare you into believing that the guns are going to be taken away and they talk about their constitutional rights. The state supreme court or the federal supreme court is going to knock down any law that takes away your constitutional rights,” Searle said. “This thing is unnecessary.”
The resolution passed on a 4-1 vote. Supervisor Dean Schettler was the lone no vote.
“I own guns. I don’t want my guns to be taken away because then I can’t shoot rabbits and pheasants. Everybody else is probably in the same boat,” he said, “but I guess I don’t want this to be construed by the bad guys as a place where they can come and build an arsenal of guns.”
The boards of supervisors in Adams, Cedar, Hardin, Jasper and Madison Counties have also adopted second amendment resolutions this summer.
(By Chantelle Grove, KCIM, Carroll)