LAURINBURG — Thousands of North Carolinians are riled up and ready to take a stand against potential federal gun laws.

According to gunrightswatch.com, at least 20 of the state’s 100 counties have already made the decision to become Gun Rights Sanctuaries — also referred to as Second Amendment Sanctuaries — but Scotland County is not among them.

Additionally, there are more than 20 other counties where efforts are under way by individuals or groups asking for their county to become sanctuaries.

A Gun Sanctuary is any state, county or local government in the United States that has adopted laws or resolutions to prohibit or impede the enforcement of certain gun control measures perceived as violations of the Second Amendment. Examples of perceived violations are bans on high-capacity magazines, assault weapons and gun confiscation.

The outrage began when politicians in Washington, on the heels of school and church shootings, started calling for stricter gun laws and possibly outlawing certain firearms.

Several in the surrounding areas took this as an infringement on their rights as law-abiding citizens set fourth in the Second Amendment and voiced those opinions and thoughts in commissioners meetings in their respective counties. Recordings of the meetings can be found on youtube.com.

In one case, according to YouTube and the Winston-Salem Journal, Deputy Sheriff Tripp Kester of Davidson County recently approached the county board in reference to the Second Amendment.

“Regardless of what you do, I”m not going to enforce an unconstitutional law,” he said. “I’m going to protect the people of this county regardless of what’s done here.

“Let’s let these people know we support them and are not going to allocate any personal, finances, resources or facilities to infringe on their liberties,” he added.

Not in Scotland County

At this time, there have been no efforts made for Scotland County to become a Gun Rights Sanctuary.

Ashley Jacobs at Ned’s Pawn Shop in Laurinburg said this week there have been problems in the past with the process of purchasing and selling guns — however, they have improved to a point overtime.

“In the past we have had issues where a person’s background check came back good because the proper agencies had not updated the person’s background history,” said Jacobs. “But I have noticed that it has gotten better and they are improving on their timeliness.”

Jacobs also said they have been dealing with guns for at least 50 years and they continue to see improvements.

“I’d love to see Scotland County become a gun sanctuary,” said Jacobs. “We are full-on Second Amendment here.”

King’s Pawn Shop in Laurinburg is another business that deals with the selling and buying of firearms in Scotland County.

”We actually sell a lot of guns here in Scotland County,” said Paul Koenig of King’s Pawn. “Absolutely everyone that qualifies should be allowed to own a gun and carry it.”

He added that, even though he believes in the right to own a gun, he does believe there should be guidelines and stipulations.

“I believe in background checks,” said Koenig. “With respect, the truth is there are individuals under certain mental health situations or felony restrictions that should not have them (and) that is why it is important to do the checks.”

Despite gun laws aimed at keeping residents safe, some believe the laws are too strict and are concerned with the possibility of their firearms being confiscated.

Scotland County Manager Kevin Patterson said this week that, so far, there has been no request for county commissioners to discuss being a Gun Rights Sanctuary.

The Scotland County Board of Commissioners will Monday at the Emergency Operations Center, located at 1403 West Blvd. in Laurinburg, at 7 p.m.

Any resident with a concern they would like to present to the board would need to contact Jason Robinson, the public information officer with Scotland County, prior to the next meeting at 910-277-2406 or they can sign up at the meeting before it begins. Also, the board chair will usually ask if anyone would like to address the Board during the time for public forum.

JJ Melton can be reached at 910-506-3169 or [email protected].

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No effort yet in Scotland County

JJ Melton

Staff writer