In official opinion, Virginia AG says gun sanctuary resolutions have ‘no legal effect’
Attorney General Mark Herring says the Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions being passed by Virginia localities have “no legal effect,” according to an official opinion issued Friday.
Even if the resolutions were written to explicitly defy the new gun-control laws expected to be passed next year under a Democratic-controlled General Assembly, Herring said localities have no such power.
“It is my further opinion that localities and and local constitutional officers cannot nullify state laws and must comply with gun violence prevention measures that the General Assembly may enact,” Herring wrote in the four-page opinion.
Since Democrats won legislative majorities in November’s elections, more than Virginia 100 counties, cities and towns have preemptively passed resolutions expressing their support for gun rights and, to varying degrees, their opposition to new gun-control measures. Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, sought the opinion from Herring’s office in response to the phenomenon.
“When the General Assembly passes new gun safety laws they will be enforced, and they will be followed. These resolutions have no legal force, and they’re just part of an effort by the gun lobby to stoke fear,” Herring said in a news release accompanying the opinion.
In response, soon-to-be House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, suggested the opinion was at odds with Herring’s prior refusal to defend Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban before it was officially struck down because he felt it was unconstitutional.
“This not only conflicts with his previous statement about his own conduct, but also the position of a number of Democratic commonwealth’s attorneys regarding prosecution of marijuana possession,” Gilbert said in a release. “I look forward to the attorney general following up with the commonwealth’s attorneys and commonwealth’s attorneys-elect in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Portsmouth and Norfolk about the supremacy of state law over the policy preferences of local elected officials.”
Whether the measures prove symbolic or not, right-wing websites exploded with headlines last week floating the possibility that Gov. Ralph Northam would send the state’s National Guard to enforce whatever gun laws the General Assembly approves. Rep. Don McEachin, D-Richmond, prompted the speculation when he told the Washington Examiner, “I’m not the governor, but the governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law.”
The outcry that followed prompted the Guard’s leader, Maj. Gen. Timothy P. Williams, to direct a message to personnel saying he had not received any such request.
“We will not speculate about the possible use of the Virginia National Guard,” he said. “I encourage everyone to be patient while we allow our elected officials to work through the legislative process.”
Northam’s administration, however, has said unequivocally that a military deployment is not something it’s considering.
“The governor has no intention of using the National Guard,” said Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran. “Our position is that these laws are constitutional.
They are common sense reasonable approaches to reduce gun violence in Virginia. And once they have passed, we’re going to work with all of our stakeholders — sheriffs and county administrators and police — to properly and effectively implement them come July 1.”
Another name for the enemies list…
Aesop said it best
I think the AG doesn’t know his adversaries. Which is good for us.
Since when are we compelled to act “legally”?
it is not a crime to defy unconstitutional laws….it is a duty
I live 15 mi. From VA. I’ll fkn help any way I can. Pussy bastards
What’s the little baby going to do when people don’t comply when he says they must. Stomp his foot and cry?
well la-di-da. like we give one pinch of puppy poo what mark herring says. we go by a higher law. the govna pretty much sealed the fate of va when he threatened us and backed it up with more threats. folks round here don’t respond well to threats. more sanctuaries were created after his threats than before….. we’re not buying ar’s to turn them in, what would we shoot all those thousands of rounds in? and turn in $25,000 nfa items. you must be insane. a fifty-five grain pill will cure that. sic semper tyrannis a-holes.
[…] gun grabbing stand there, and it’s not going well for him so far. Now they have delivered the ultimatum in Virginia, oh you will obey our laws or else. I can tell you this, threats aren’t taken to kindly in […]