President Obama and Vice-President Biden met with a group of sheriffs and police chiefs this afternoon, calling them a representation of law-enforcement officials across the country as the administration continues pushing new gun policies.
"I know that this is not a shy group," Obama said before sitting down with 13 cops from the sites of massacres (Newtown, Aurora, Tuscon) and all-too-regular gun related violence (Chicago, Philadelphia).
But the truly not gun-shy are the more than 90 sheriffs — and counting— from across gun-rights America unified in their vow to oppose Obama's executive actions as well as measures headed for heated debate in Congress.
"No group is more important for us to listen to than our law enforcement officials," Obama said. "They are where the rubber hits the road."
It appears, however, that on the ground in places like Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and beyond, sheriffs may be the better measure of outspoken law enforcement.
For instance, Obama met with the police chief of Salt Lake City, Utah, but nearly every sheriff in that entire state thinks doesn't agree with the administration.
Here's a roundup of the standout sheriffs who, based on a legal interpretations of the constitution or not, say they'll be disobeying the president and Washington:
All the sheriffs in Utah (except for Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder) think firearms aren't the problem:
With the number of mass shootings America has endured, it is easy to demonize firearms; it is also foolish and prejudiced ... Firearms are nothing more than instruments, valuable and potentially dangerous, but instruments nonetheless.
Sheriff John Cooke of Colorado's Weld County says he doesn't have the resources:
I'm not going to help him in any way ... I'm not going to enforce it because it's unenforceable and because I don't have the resources. The federal government doesn't have the resources.
Arizona Sheriff Paul Bebeu (who once had hopes for a seat in Congress) thinks guns are like cars:
America has seen an even higher number of our citizens killed by impaired drivers involved in automobile collisions. Why are you not seeking to remove vehicles from our roadways?....it's because you realize it's the drivers who are at fault and not the vehicle they were driving.
This same analogy holds true with these shootings....it's not the gun that's at fault but rather the criminals who use them. Do you honestly feel that any criminal or someone who is mentally ill will obey an executive order made by you related to "gun control?" Criminals get their name, because they don't follow our laws already Mr. President.
Those sheriffs are just a small part of a bigger group — nearly 100 have now signed on to a petition to oppose Obama's gun initiatives by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.
CSPOA, formed in 2011, is run by pro-gun rights former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack. Mack and his organizations were identified by Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-government group and part of the "Patriot" movement. They wrote in their winter 2012 report:
Over the past two years, Mack has been working to bring county sheriffs nationwide into the fold of the Patriot movement. He formed the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association in 2011 to advance the principle that sheriffs must resist the government.
The county sheriff is the line in the sand. The county sheriff is the one who can say to the feds, “Beyond these bounds you shall not pass.” This is not only within the scope of the sheriff’s authority; it’s the sheriff’s sworn duty
Below is the current list of Sheriffs who have signed the CSPOA's pledge against Obama's gun initiatives, which doesn't come loaded with many specifics about executive actions as opposed to actual legislation, but does have this here angry video:
LIST OF STATE SHERIFF’S ASSOCIATIONS
2. New Mexico Sheriff’s Association (30 out of 33 sheriffs)
LIST OF COUNTY SHERIFFS
1. Sheriff Glenn E. Palmer - Grant County, Oregon
2. Sheriff Gil Gilbertson – Josephine County, Oregon
3. Sheriff Tim Mueller – Linn County, Oregon
4. Sheriff Adam Christianson – Stanislaus County, California
5. Sheriff Brad A. DeLay – Lawrence County, Missouri
6. Sheriff Charles M. Heiss – Johnson County, Missouri
7. Sheriff Steve Cox - Livingston County, Missouri
8. Sheriff Jon Lopey – Siskiyou County, California
9. Sheriff Craig Zanni – Coos County, Oregon
10. Sheriff John Hanlin - Douglas County, Oregon
11. Sheriff John Bishop – Curry County, Oregon
12. Sheriff Larry Blanton - Deschutes County, Oregon
13. Sheriff Jim Hensley – Crook County, Oregon
14. Sheriff Denny Peyman – Jackson County, Kentucky
15. Sheriff Roy Klingler – Madison County, Idaho
16. Sheriff Blake Dorning – Madison County, Alabama
17. Sheriff Justin Smith – Larimer County, Colorado
18. Sheriff Al Cannon – Charleston County, South Carolina
19. Sheriff Ana Franklin – Morgan County, Alabama
20. Sheriff Andy Hughes – Houston County, Alabama
21. Sheriff Stacy Nicholson – Gilmer County, Georgia
22. Sheriff Robin Cole – Pine County, Minnesota
23. Sheriff Bill Snyder – Martin County, Florida
24. Sheriff Ed Kilgpore – Humboldt County, Nevada
25. Sheriff Tom Bosenko – Shasta County, California
26. Sheriff John D’Agostini – El Dorado County, California
27. Sheriff David Hencraft – Tehama County, California
28. Sheriff Dean Growden – Lassen County, California
29. Sheriff Dean Wilson – Del Norte County, California
30. Sheriff Mike Poindexter – Modoc County, California
31. Sheriff Thomas Allman - Mendocino County, California
32. Sheriff Mike Downey - Humboldt County, California
33. Sheriff Larry Smith - Smith County, Texas
34. Sheriff Kieran Donahue - Canyon County, Idaho
35. Sheriff Margaret Mims – Fresno County, California
36. Sheriff Pat Garrett – Washington County, Oregon
37. Sheriff Dan Staton – Multnomah County, Oregon
38. Sheriff Scott Mascher - Yavapai County, Arizona
39. Sheriff Micahel A. Helmig - Boone County, Ohio
40. Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg - Clermont County, Ohio
41. Sheriff Terry Maketa - El Paso County, Colorado
42. Sheriff John Cooke - Weld County, Colorado
43. Sheriff Scott Berry - Oconee County, Georgia
44. Sheriff Frank Denning – Johnson County, Kansas
45. Sheriff Stan Hilkey – Mesa County, Colorado
46. Sheriff Terry Box – Collin County, Texas
47. Sheriff Chuck Wright - Spartanburg County, South Carolina
48. Sheriff Greg Hagwood - Plumas County, California
49. Sheriff Frank McKeithen - Bay County, Florida
50. Sheriff Roger Garrison - Cherokee County, Georgia
51. Sheriff Tony Desmond - Schoharie County, New York
52. Sheriff Richard Devlin Jr. – Otsego County, New York
53. Sheriff Bruce Haney – Trinity County, California
54. Sheriff Wayne DeWitt - Berkeley County, South Carolina
55. Sheriff Bob ‘Big Block’ Colbert – Wagoner County, Oklahoma
56. Sheriff Joel W. Richardson – Randall County, Texas
57. Sheriff Mike Scott – Lee County, Florida
58. Sheriff Mike Winters – Jackson County, Oregon
59. Sheriff Brian Wolfe – Malheur County, Oregon
60. Sheriff Cameron M. Noel – Beaver County, Utah
61. Sheriff Tom Rummel – Sanders County, Montana
62. Sheriff Jeff Christopher – Sussex County, Delaware
63. Sheriff Brad Rogers, Elkhart County, Indiana
64. Sheriff David Edmunds – Summit County, Utah
65. Sheriff James Tracy – Utah County, Utah
66. Sheriff Robert Dekker – Millard County, Utah
67. Sheriff Frank Park – Tooele County, Utah
68. Sheriff J. Lynn Yeates – Box Elder County, Utah
69. Sheriff G. Lynn Nelson – Chache County, Utah
70. Sheriff James Cordova – Carbon County, Utah
71. Sheriff Jerry Jorgensen – Daggett County, Utah
72. Sheriff Todd Richardson – Davis County, Utah
73. Sheriff Travis Mitchell – Duchesne County – Utah
74. Sheriff Greg Funk – Emery County, Utah
75. Sheriff James D. Perkins – Garfield County, Utah
76. Sheriff Steven White – Grand County, Utah
77. Sheriff Mark Gower – Iron County, Utah
78. Sheriff Alden Orme – Juab County, Utah
79. Sheriff Lamont Smith – Kane County, Utah
80. Sheriff Blaine Breshears – Morgan County, Utah
81. Sheriff Marty Gleave – Puite County, Utah
82. Sheriff Dale Stacey – Rich County, Utah
83. Sheriff Rick Eldredge – San Juan County, Utah
84. Sheriff Brian Nielson – Sanpete County, Utah
85. Sheriff Nathan Curtis – Sevier County, Utah
86. Sheriff Jeff Merrell – Uintah County, Utah
87. Sheriff Todd Bonner – Wasatch County, Utah
88. Sheriff Cory Pulsipher – Washington County, Utah
89. Sheriff Kurt Taylor – Wayne County, Utah
90. Sheriff Terry Thompson – Weber County, Utah
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