For the second time in two days, a Texas county has responded to increasing attacks on gun rights by declaring itself a Second Amendment sanctuary against unconstitutional firearms restrictions.
Smith County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 Tuesday to adopt a resolution reaffirming the right of local citizens to keep and bear arms. The lone Democrat on the court opposed the gun-rights measure.
“After passing a 6.1 percent tax increase that gobbled up all of the property tax cut from the Tyler school district, the Republicans on this bench actually swerved into standing for the right thing, for a change,” conservative activist and former Smith County Commissioner JoAnn Fleming told Texas Scorecard Tuesday.
Fleming is executive director of Grassroots America – We the People, the largest volunteer-led constitutional conservative organization in Texas. The group had urged commissioners to approve the resolution and publicly state the county’s “opposition to any unconstitutional firearms restrictions against law-abiding citizens”:
“In doing so, you will be in agreement with Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith’s bold pledge to stand against any unconstitutional acts that would violate the Second Amendment. In fact, Sheriff Smith pledged that he would NOT enforce any unconstitutional act against Smith County citizens.”
Parker County commissioners passed a similar resolution on Monday designating their county a Second Amendment sanctuary.
Declarations by Smith and Parker county officials mirror pledges approved by other Texas counties this year: Hudspeth County in March, Presidio County in July, and Hood County earlier this month.
They are part of a growing movement in Texas and across the United States to protect citizens’ gun rights in the face of confiscation threats from far-left Democrats including presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, as well as pushes from Republicans like Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick for more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.
The resolutions pledge support for sheriffs and say the counties will not authorize use of resources “for the purpose of enforcing law that unconstitutionally infringes on the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”
Read the full resolution here.
