Sanctuary

I just returned after attending my first ever session of the Kenton County (Kentucky) Fiscal Court, where the court unanimously passed a resolution declaring the county a Second Amendment sanctuary, in front of a standing-room only crowd.

You might notice yours truly at the upper right of this photo… (Photo: Sam Greene/The Enquirer)

I was among about a half-dozen attendees who accepted the invitation of the court to speak on the resolution, joining State Representative Savannah Maddox and Northern Kentucky NRA Representative Walt Starosciak, among others.

Rep. Savannah Maddox addresses the Kenton County Fiscal Court. (Photo: Sam Greene/The Enquirer)

If you know anything about Kentucky and our gun laws, you might wonder why any discussion of Second Amendment sanctuary would even be necessary. Our gun freedoms are pretty robust, and seem pretty secure when you observe the current state of political affairs in the Commonwealth. Despite the recent election of a Democrat governor, both houses of the General Assembly, the Attorney General, and pretty much every other statewide elected office is solidly in Republican hands. At a recent Second Amendment rally at the capitol in Frankfort, Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer (R) addressed the group and promised that no gun control legislation would pass the Kentucky Senate.

So with this level of support for the right to keep and bear arms in the Bluegrass, it can be awfully easy to channel Mad magazine’s Alfred E. Neumann…

Don’t be like Alfred.

But it is precisely this attitude which I chose to address during my three minutes at the podium tonight. I related to the court and the audience the position that a friend of mine in Virginia finds himself in right now. This individual and I go back nearly 40 years now, and I know him to be a man of principle, conviction, and integrity, and an avowed defender of the Constitution against all enemies. Being the leader he is, he serves on his city council and as vice-mayor and like all freedom loving Virginians, finds himself working at what may indeed be mortal stakes.

I chose to remind the room tonight that Virginia’s crisis was created by complacency. I reminded them of the massive surge of grassroots activism in resistance to the threat of draconian gun control Virginia, and and asked them to consider what that energy might have accomplished if it had been sparked prior to the last round of elections in the Old Dominion.

I told them that this was precisely why it was so important to be active now…to not go to sleep…to stay engaged, and ensure that we do not fall victim to the same complacency that trapped Virginians. I thanked the crowd for their attendance, and thanked the court in advance for their “yes” vote, and sat down.

A few minutes later, the resolution passed unanimously (see below). A symbolic measure, perhaps, but symbols do have meaning. What does it mean? I think it means that we need to learn from Virginia. We need to connect and engage our elected officials outside of election day. It is no longer enough to go to the polls every couple of years and leave government on autopilot in between.

Go to meetings. Participate. Speak up. There’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines.