County supervisors deny two exemptions to weapons ban

The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors denied two exemptions to the ban on weapons inside county buildings during this morning?s meeting.

Written requests for exemption were submitted by Robert Kessel and Scott Clark.

Assistant county attorney Pat McAvan advised the supervisors should require proof of a permit to a carry before issuing exemptions and recommended the supervisors set criteria.

?If you?re going to exercise discretion in this area, you have to actually exercise discretion, which means you can?t deny everybody and you can?t grant everybody,? McAvan said.

He said granting exemptions to employees who submitted a request makes sense.

?There?s sort of a public perception that if a person is in their home or in their place of business, they have an increased interest in safety in those locations,? McAvan said. ?Is there a need to have a firearm in a county-owned building as a member of the general public? And if there are a number of people who come forward and say, ?Hey, I don?t feel safe there. I need a firearm.? Is that a public statement about the need for you guys to implement more strict security measures??

Supervisor Steve Burgmeier said the sudden change in policy is arbitrary because people who previously held permits to carry concealed were able to carry weapons into county buildings up until a month ago.

?We haven?t had a problem,? he said.

?The state Legislature exempted themselves ? exempted private business, exempted all federal buildings, including the U.S. Post Office and federal banks. The only things they didn?t exempt were city and county employees, and even the supreme court indicated it was within prudence and jurisdiction of local governments to consider the issue,? said supervisor Lee Dimmitt.

He noted he doesn?t know the people making the requests, and he thinks it would be reasonable to require their presence when considering exemptions.

Both requests for exemptions were denied 2-1, with Burgmeier casting the only vote in favor.

In other business, the board gave supervisor Dick Reed authority to appoint a committee to handle labor union negotiations with the correctional officers,

For the complete article, see the Monday, Jan. 31, 2011, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.