Washington County Board Passes Gun Sanctuary County Resolution

By Alex Haglund

The Washington County Board unanimously approved a resolution to become a “sanctuary county” for firearms at their regular meeting held on Tuesday, May 8 at the Washington County Courthouse.
The resolution mentions a number of proposed Illinois House Bills (HB 1465, 1467, 1468 and 1469), along with proposed Illinois Senate Bill SB1657.
“One of these now (HB1465) would force people under the age of 21 to turn over their firearms or become instant felons,” said County Board member Eric Brammeier, who brought the resolution to the board. “I am not in favor of that.”
After listing the reasons for it, the resolution then states that if the government of the state were to infringe upon rights granted by the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution, then “Washington county shall become a “sanctuary county” for all firearms unconstitutionally prohibited by the government of the State of Illinois, in that, Washington county will prohibit its employees from enforcing the unconstitutional actions of the state government.”
In discussion of the resolution before voting on it, board members mentioned that a number of other nearby counties had already passed similar “sanctuary county” measures, and Brammeier stated that he had spoken with state representative Charlie Meier who told him that a number of other counties were also likely to do so in the very near future.
In addition to being a statement of support to the public for second amendment rights, “it’s a form of lobbying too,” Brammeier said.
“This is saying, with a little louder voice to some of our legislators, ‘knock it off with infringing on our rights.’,” he added.