Herndon ordinance supports Kansas Second Amendment Protection Act
Thursday, May 23, 2013
McCook Daily Gazette
HERNDON, Kansas -- City council members of a small Northwest Kansas town have adopted an ordinance -- with the power of a law -- that reaffirms their belief in their constitutional and Second Amendment right to own and bear arms.
Herndon Mayor Kenny Chartier said Wednesday that Herndon's new law, Ordinance No. 510, supports the State of Kansas and the "Second Amendment Protection Act" that Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law April 16.
Chartier said that four of five city council members signed Herndon's new ordinance on May 7. The fifth council member was planting his corn and was absent, Chartier said.
"What our ordinance says is, "Yeah! We're with you,'," Chartier said. "We're not telling the federal government anything special ... anything new. We're supporting Kansas. It is our sovereign right to own guns. It's not the federal government's right to say we can't."
The ordinance makes federal efforts to infringe upon the Second Amendment unenforceable in Herndon, stating that "no agency of the city or employee of the city shall enforce, provide material support for, or participate in any way in the enforcement of any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the government of the United States regarding personal firearms, firearms accessories or ammunition" within Herndon.
Chartier explained, "Back in the 1800s, Kansas had its own Constitution, and it was in line with the United States' Constitution." Section Four of the Kansas Bill of Rights guarantees a person's right to keep and bear arms "for the defense of self, family, home and state, for lawful hunting and recreational use, and for any other lawful purposes."
Herndon's ordinance refers back to the time, in 1861, when Kansas became a state and affirmed its commitment to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that reserves to the people, individually, the right to keep and bear arms in the defense of self, family, home and state.
What Brownback's protection act and Herndon's ordinance do, Chartier said, is state that "anything against the Second Amendment, Kansas will nullify it. It goes back to our roots, and our right to bear arms."
Chartier said his concerns have been triggered by the federal government making gun laws that affect legal gun owners and users. "It's crazy for the federal government to make laws for law-abiding citizens, to make new laws for people not doing the crimes, when it's not upholding and enforcing the thousands of laws on the books now," Chartier said.
It's not the law-abiding citizen (including those with concealed-carry permits) who carries a gun into a gun-free zone such as a school, Chartier said. "Who in the world is carrying guns there? It's not the law-abiding citizen you should be afraid of. Gun-free zones are actually danger zones. Only criminals carry guns into them, and then it's a turkey shoot -- no one's going to be shooting back."
Chartier said he's 52 years old, and went to high school in the 1970s with a shotgun in the gun rack of his pickup -- like just about every other kid in his school. "It was no big deal -- and we didn't have mass shootings back then," he said.
Chartier said he has no problem with federal regulations regarding the purchase and sale of fully-automatic firearms. "People have a right to own them," he said. "But there's a process, and it can take a year. You can't be on the crazy watch list, and there's a tax. I have no problem with that." He continued, "It's not the people who do this legally you have to worry about."
Federal law does prohibit felons from owning firearms. "But they've broken the law, and have been convicted," Chartier said. "They've lost the right (to own guns) guaranteed them in the Second Amendment. They no longer have the right to own guns."
