KINGWOOD — Preston County commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday, making the county a Second Amendment sanctuary.
The motion passed 3-0. Commissioner Dave Price asked the commission to consider the action after the Putnam County Commission became the first in West Virginia to pass the resolution, last week.
He referred to neighboring Virginia, where counties and towns started the sanctuary movement after efforts were made to implement gun control laws.
“I know, I’m pretty sure, how people in West Virginia feel and what Preston County feels,” Price said. “I know this is symbolic, but if the issue should ever come to West Virginia like this, the counties that have indicated that they are sanctuary Second Amendment counties, I think that would make them slow down.”
The resolution cites the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court rulings affirming Second Amendment rights and the state constitution. It says the commission “recognizes that federal and state laws are presumed constitutional until finally declared otherwise by a court of appropriate jurisdiction.”
It goes on to say the commission “is concerned about the passage of any law containing language that would unconstitutionally infringe upon the rights of the citizens of Preston County to keep and bear arms …”
The commission also “is mindful of the deep cultural and historic roots of hunting within Preston County, as well as the many conservation and wildlife management benefits to be derived from responsible game management through hunting …”
In naming Preston a Second Amendment sanctuary, the commission says it has a “deep commitment to the rights of all law-abiding citizens” to keep and bear arms, opposes and discourages any laws that would unconstitutionally restrict those rights and wants no public funds be used to unconstitutionally restrict Second Amendment rights.
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