The city of Moultrie, Georgia isn’t exactly a booming metropolis.
I know, it’s just down the road a piece from me. It’s a small, rural community, the kind that you typically think of when you think of a fairly small town in Georgia. With just about 14,000 residents, it ain’t exactly Atlanta.
Because of that, it’s not likely to be anti-gun by any stretch of the imagination.
However, that simple fact isn’t enough for county Republicans. They want the city to make their pro-gun stand official.
he Colquitt County Board of Commissioners is considering whether to wade into the national debate on gun rights.
Colquitt County Republican Party Chairman Dennis Futch presented a resolution to the commission Tuesday night seeking to make Colquitt County a “Second Amendment Sanctuary Protection County.” Commissioners asked County Attorney Lester Castellow to review the resolution with a vote expected at the commission’s March 7 meeting.
The resolution makes the case for the rights of individuals to own firearms and asserts that federal regulations about guns, except as regards convicted felons, are a violation of the Constitution’s Second Amendment as well as the Georgia state constitution.
It then states the commission supports the county sheriff in using his discretion to not enforce an unconstitutional firearms law.
And it resolves that the commission won’t “authorize or appropriate funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers or offices for the purpose of enforcing or assisting in the enforcement of any element of any UNCONSTITUTIONAL acts, laws, orders, mandates, rules or regulations that infringe on the right by the people to keep and bear arms.” (emphasis in the original)
Now, none of this is a particularly bad thing in and of itself.
However, it just seems strange to me that this is where the Colquitt County Republican Party decided to devote its time.
See, Georgia is still pretty pro-gun, despite Atlanta-area lawmakers’ best efforts. There’s not a real threat to our right to keep and bear arms there.
Further, as things currently stand, the only way gun control is getting passed is through executive orders, which typically don’t bind local governments.
So, why this, and why now?
It just seems to me that in the time spent on this at the county level, the county Republicans could have started an email campaign to pressure lawmakers to support pro-gun laws or to vote against anti-gun bills at both the state and federal levels.
Things might be different if this were an anti-gun state or if there was a serious push for gun control underway at the federal level. Seeing as how there isn’t, though, this just doesn’t make much sense to me.
I’m not opposed to it on any level, mind you, I just find the timing a bit weird. As things stand, this feels unnecessary here and now.
Then again, maybe that’s the point. Pass it now so you don’t have to worry later, maybe? If so, cool. If not, then I’d love to know why.
In the meantime, Moultrie and the surrounding area will be just as pro-gun as they’ve always been, which I respect entirely.