Second amendment Sanctuary County resolution

Smith County may join a short list of Texas counties declaring their support for gun rights as a Second Amendment “Sanctuary County.”

The Smith County Commissioners Court is scheduled to vote Tuesday whether to approve a resolution declaring the county as a safe haven for gun rights.

Hudspeth and Presidio counties are among a handful of Texas counties that adopted similar resolutions earlier this year.

The text of the resolution also appears to match portions used in those counties.

According to GunRightsWatch.com, which is tracking the resolutions, the idea stemmed from Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West in March of this year.

If approved, the commissioners court would resolve to refuse to authorize or appropriate government funds, employees or resources for the purpose of enforcing laws “that have been found to unconstitutionally infringe on the rights of citizens.”

Precinct 3 Commissioner Terry Phillips brought the motion forward. Phillips said he was inspired by the other counties that had adopted resolutions of their own.

“I actually had been thinking about it for months now, and when I saw some of the other towns and counties going forward, I thought I needed to do something here,” Phillips said.

He said he became concerned when Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso called for mandatory buybacks of certain rifles, and proposed red flag laws.

“When I started hearing these things about Beto confiscating your guns, I was concerned, first he started out with a buyback,” Phillips said. “How are they gonna buy back my guns? I didn’t buy them from the government. He’s talking nonsense about grabbing our guns and that’s when I became concerned.”

Phillips said it was important for him to let citizens know that the county supports and will protect their Second Amendment rights.

“There’s no more red, Second Amendment loving citizens (than) right here in Smith County,” he said. “I thought the time was right to do and it and let our citizens know where we stand.”

Resolutions passed in other counties have drawn large crowds of supporters, but Phillips said he is unsure what the turnout for Tuesday’s meeting will look like.

“I hope we have a lot of support for it, but if I have to stand alone on it I will,” he said.

The Smith County Commissioners Court will meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Smith County Courthouse Annex, 200 E. Ferguson St.