Washington County may become state’s next Second Amendment sanctuary county

Washington County may join two other counties in the state to designate the county as a Second Amendment sanctuary.

Supervisor Jack Seward Jr. said Tuesday that he has put together a rough draft of a resolution to protect the right to bear arms in Washington County.

“I just really believe we really need to affirm the rights of the people to defend themselves in any way they find legal and appropriate,” Seward said.

He said that the resolution is needed to protect the rights of county residents from what he sees as a trend toward tighter gun control.

“Just the way things are going — or seem headed — at the national level with proponents of bigger government imposing on our freedoms and liberties in general,” Seward said. “The gun control lobby seems to be pushing for more and more laws that actually only impact the law abiding among us, and I can’t see will do anything to stop criminal activity.

“Couple that with the latest defund the police push and the soft on crime policies of some prosecutors that we don’t want to see come around here.”

On July 13, Republican supervisors in Jasper County were the first in the state to pass such a resolution, with Hardin County following suit the next day.

Seward said that he based the language of the Washington County resolution on those passed in Jasper and Hardin counties.

“The language in the resolution that I revised from the Hardin and Jasper County resolutions lays it out pretty well for why it is reasonable for us to consider a local resolution,” he said.

The proposed resolution, like the one passed in Hardin County, states that any state or federal law or executive order “that infringes upon the constitutionally protected natural Right of the people of Washington County, Iowa to Keep and Bear Arms shall not be enforced by any individual employed by the Washington County (Iowa) Sheriff’s Office, or any other employee of Washington County, Iowa.”

Seward pointed out that the final clause of the resolution clarifies that it only applies to laws or executive orders passed or issued after the date of the resolution’s adoption.

“It seems to me that the laws presently in place can and will be enforced like it is today,” he said. “It shouldn’t change that.”

He emphasized that the proposed resolution he distributed Tuesday is a rough draft.

“It is a rough first draft,” he said. “There will be another draft when the read file comes out when it comes up on the agenda.”

Seward said that he expects the resolution to be on the agenda of the Aug. 10 Board of Supervisors meeting because Chairman Richard Young will be out of town until then.

“We want to have all of the supervisors sign off on this,” Seward said.