KENOSHA, Wis. — A Kenosha County Board of Supervisors resolution is calling for the county to be declared a "Second Amendment Sanctuary County" in order to protect what they call citizens' gun rights.
The resolution, proposed by Supervisors Erin Decker and John Poole, will be discussed at Tuesday night's board meeting at 7:30 p.m.
They argue that both the U.S. Constitution and Wisconsin's constitution protect people's right to keep and bear arms for a variety of purposes. They also cite the economic benefits guns bring.
The sponsors say they are concerned about the passage of laws containing language that could be interpreted as infringing the gun rights of citizens in the county.
The resolution, they say, is a way to express their "deep commitment" to the right to keep and bear arms.
"Kenosha County Board of Supervisors wishes to express opposition to any law that would unconstitutionally restrict the rights of the citizens of Kenosha County to keep and bear arms," according to the proposal.
The resolution affirms support to the Kenosha County Sheriff to "exercise sound discretion to not enforce against an unconstitutional firearms law." They say they would also not approve funds for the enforcement of federal or state gun laws.
The term "Second Amendment sanctuary" comes from the earlier term sanctuary city, which was used to title local legislation that sought to protect immigrants' rights against federal laws and to avoid using local funds to enforce those federal laws.
"Second Amendment sanctuary" resolutions often aim to prohibit gun control laws such as assault weapon bans, universal background checks, high capacity magazine bans, red flag laws and other efforts.
In June of 2021, the Wisconsin Senate passed Second Amendment sanctuary legislation and sent it to Gov. Tony Evers. They hoped to exempt firearms in the state from federal gun laws.
This is how the Kenosha County resolution describes the infringing of gun rights:
"Any legislation considered by the Wisconsin State Legislature that would infringe upon the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and would ban the possession and/or use of any weapons including firearms, magazines, ammunition or body armor now employed by individual citizens of Kenosha County for their defense of Life, Liberty and Property, or for the purposes of hunting, recreation or other lawful purposes or would require a firearms owner I.D . card , or tax the possession of firearms or ammunition, or require the registration and/or confiscation of said weapons and ammunition within Kenosha County, Wisconsin; would be a violation of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and of Article 1, Section 25 of the Wisconsin Constitution."
