GREEN COVE SPRINGS – After nearly three hours of public comment and board member discussion, the Board of County Commissioners voted to reaffirm their commitment to upholding the Second Amendment.

Councilman Gavin Rollins placed an item on the Nov. 26 BCC meeting agenda to make Clay County a gun sanctuary county. Sanctuary may be open to interpretation, but what Rollins wanted to make clear the county would be exempt if federal laws change and citizens would be required to turn in certain weapons. Clay County would use the results of Printz v. United States to keep federal law from overruling.

“Whereas, the U.S Supreme Court found in Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898 (1997), that the Federal government cannot compel law enforcement offices to the States to enforce federal laws as it would increase the power of the Federal government far beyond that which the constitution intended,” the county’s resolution states.

The lawsuit boils down to the idea that the federal government cannot force local law enforcement to enforce federal law. In the context of this situation, if a federal law forcing citizens to turn in certain weapons was passed, the local law enforcement can’t be forced to enforce that law. They could, however, choose to follow, but the important thing based on Printz v. United States is that choice would be up to the local enforcement – not federal enforcement.

Rollins said the case protects local governments from federal encroachment beyond what the Constitution intended.

Not long before the meeting started, Rollins’ resolution was updated with new wording. Commissioner Wayne Bolla voted no since he didn’t have time to study the new wording. That brought the final vote to 4-1, with Bolla dissenting.

It took nearly three hours to make the vote because supporters on both sides showed up in droves. Supporters of the resolution, like Bill Elrod of the Clay County Friends of the NRA, said the resolution strengthened Clay County’s defense of the Second Amendment in a period of time where all kinds of rights in the U.S. are under attack.

“The Second Amendment supports the other nine amendment and if it fails, you can bet the others will fail too,” Elrod said. “Without the right to defend your rights, you have no rights.”

Those not in favor of the resolution told the BCC that the use of the word sanctuary is divisive and doesn’t do anything to protect the Second Amendment.

“This (resolution) is a dangerous threat to the rule of law and public safety,” David Johnson said. “It fails to recognize the gun epidemic and its divisive and diverts BCC attention from focusing on what they should be focusing on.”

Almost everyone that spoke said they were in favor of the Second Amendment, but some of the most arduous supporters said the resolution and its use of “sanctuary” were unnecessary.

“This resolution is ridiculous,” Cheryl Owens said. “There’s no need for it. You already support the Second Amendment by the very fact that you took an oath to support the Constitution. The Constitution already supports the ownership of guns. It’s very clear.”

Those in favor expressed their desire to send a message to the government that Clay County supports the Second Amendment wholeheartedly. Those not in favor said this resolution was unnecessary and that it would bring attention to the county that it didn’t need.

Before the final vote on the resolution, language was changed to drop the use of the word sanctuary and instead serve as a motion to see the BCC reaffirm their commitment to support the Second Amendment.

In other business, the BCC selected a new chair and vice chair. Mike Cella will no longer be the BCC chair, although he was selected to continue his position of chair of the Tourism Development Council, and in his place will be Gayward Hendry. Diane Hutchings was elected as vice chair.

The changes will be reflected in the upcoming BCC meeting on Dec. 10.