Gun-rights activists are asking local officials to pass an ordinance following in the footsteps of Jennings County to make Bartholomew County a “sanctuary county” protecting Second Amendment rights.
The group, called the Bartholomew County Indiana 2A United Sanctuary, has sent a draft of a proposed ordinance to the Bartholomew County commissioners, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department and Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop, said Chris Imel of Ladoga in Montgomery County, the group’s organizer and a former Bartholomew County deputy coroner serving in 2017.
As of mid-afternoon Tuesday, the private social media group had 4,471 members on Facebook. Imel said he created the Facebook page a week ago.
The idea behind the a Second Amendment sanctuary ordinance is to “prevent the enforcement of certain gun control measures that violate the Second Amendment. The measures the group is concerned about include “emergency protection orders, enforcement of gun background checks and Red Flag laws,” according to an email Imel said he sent to city and county officials.
Indiana’s red flag law was inspired by and named after Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer Timothy “Jake” Laird, killed in 2004 in the line of duty. The law in general allows law enforcement to seize guns from people who are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. The laws also typically include language guaranteeing due process for gun owners to retrieve their weapons through the courts.
If passed, the group claims the proposed ordinance would allow local officials to “refuse to cooperate with state and federal firearm laws” perceived to violate the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, including any future proposed restrictions on clip capacity, silencers, bump stocks, bayonet mounts, among other items, according to the proposed ordinance.
“What this (proposed) ordinance would do is it would allow the county (Bartholomew) to decide that they’re not going to follow those rules or prosecute for those things,” Imel said.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
