Halifax County passes resolution to become Second Amendment Sanctuary
HALIFAX CO., Va. (WSET) -- Halifax County has joined the growing list of Second Amendment sanctuaries.
The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution making Halifax County a Second Amendment Sanctuary at their packed meeting at the gym in the Mary Bethune Complex on Monday, December 2.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Dennis Witt said a number of people reached out, asking the board to consider the county becoming a Second Amendment Sanctuary.
The Halifax County Sheriff's Office said they guessed some 400 people came to the meeting.
Families were fed up and they want Governor Northam to know any plans to pass stricter gun laws are off-limits in Halifax County.
"He will realize at least in rural Virginia he's stirred up a hornet's nest and awoken a sleeping giant," said one Halifax County resident in attendance.
Witt says that means the county stands firm in their right to bear arms as intended by the Constitution.
The Halifax County Board of Supervisors took public comments during their meeting.
The President of the Halifax South Boston branch of the NAACP, Barbara Coleman Brown, said she's a gun owner but she opposes the idea of creating a Second Amendment Sanctuary.
"This resolution as our delegates so amply put it is a thinly veiled attempt to subvert the will of the majority as expressed on November 5th," said Brown.
Appomattox County, Campbell County, Pittsylvania County, Carroll County and Charlotte County are all Second Amendment sanctuaries, while Amherst County and Bedford County are debating whether to join that list.
A petition has been created to make Lynchburg a Second Amendment Sanctuary.
Bedford County Board of Supervisors will be voting at the next meeting on Monday, December 9.
Amherst County Board of Supervisors said they will come up with a final version of the draft that will be presented at their next meeting.
Being a 'Second Amendment Sanctuary' means that, within the limits of the law, these counties will oppose any efforts to restrict its citizens' gun rights.
The resolution is not legally binding but expresses the locality's intent that its public funds not be used to restrict Second Amendment rights.
