Huron County set to become 16th Ohio gun sanctuary

NORWALK — Commissioners plan to sign a resolution declaring Huron County the 16th Second Amendment Sanctuary county in Ohio. Huron County Commissioner Terry Boose said officials will sign the resolution at 9 a.m. on Tuesday at the commissioner's office. "Assuming nothing occurs at the state level, it is our intention to move forward with it," Boose said. "If a bill or something is passed between now and then, that could change." The Second Amendment sanctuary is an idea inspired by sanctuary cities that refuse to assist the federal government in enforcing immigration laws. A Second Amendment sanctuary is a city or county that declares it will refuse to enforce any new gun control laws approved by the state or federal government. Huron County assistant prosecutor Randal Strickler said the local resolution would be more of a policy statement as opposed to approving a law. He declined to comment, however, on how the prosecutor's office would operate under the resolution. "I'm not going to comment on that right now because it depends on what the law reads and the facts of the situation," Strickler said. "Right now, the law permits law enforcement to remove guns from people under three specific instances and set of facts. They all involve having some sort of due process, meaning a judge or somebody makes the determination that guns can be taken away from you." The Second Amendment sanctuary matter first was addressed locally at the Jan. 27 meeting at the Bronson-Norwalk Conservation Club. Boose and state Rep. Dick Stein (R-Norwalk) both spoke. In that meeting, Boose and Stein both implored patience from the crowd of 400 gun rights activists. "I applaud all of you for being here today and showing your support for the Second Amendment," Stein said at the time. "My concern though is with the timing. ... The concern is that if you use it now, it won't be there when you may need it later. With the make-up of (the state Legislature) in Columbus right now, we don't have to worry about our rights being infringed upon. He continued: "You have to do things at the right time. Whenever we do this thing, we are going to get it done, but the timing is critical. We need to get a hold of every law enforcement officer and let them know what you are doing. Also, get all the cities and villages in the county on board as well." After encountering resistance from sanctuary proponents, Boose and the commissioners shifted positions to one more in line with the group. "There is a benefit to passing this sooner, and that would be you are sending a message on how you think Huron County should be," Boose said. "It might influence Columbus by having that already done. I'm still weighing whether it's better actually to wait or not, but it sounds like the people of the county want it passed sooner." Boose said county commissioners do not set the laws, they work off the statutes of the state. "We can't tell the sheriff what to do, we can't tell the Norwalk police what to do and we can't tell any police department in the county what they can or they can't do," Boose said. Commissioners sent emails out to the cities, villages and their police departments to let them know they are looking into adopting a Second Amendment Sanctuary County resolution and to gather input.