BECKY CEARTAS & SHERRY HONEYCUTT EVERETT: '2nd Amendment Sanctuaries' jeopardize public safety

It is the responsibility of our courts, not local governments, to be the arbiters of a law’s constitutionality. In fact, late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s majority opinion in the District of Columbia v Heller (2008) case said that the Second Amendment was not unlimited and that a range of gun regulations are fully consistent with the Second Amendment. As anti-violence advocates, we find the decision of local governments to exercise their power in this manner to be disheartening at best, and a serious threat to public safety at worst.

These resolutions are also out of step with the public’s widespread support for stronger gun safety laws. A poll by the conservative Civitas Institute found in 2019 that 58% of North Carolinians think our gun laws are too lax, and 48% of those polled either owned a gun or had someone in their home who owned a gun.

Perhaps most directly at risk are victims of domestic violence. According to a study in the American Journal of Public Health, the presence of a firearm makes it nearly five times more likely that a domestic violence victim will become a homicide victim.  Victims rely on their local governments and law enforcement agencies to help enforce protective orders, including orders to an abuser to surrender a firearm.

Although Second Amendment Sanctuary proclamations are largely symbolic, they are nonetheless strong indicators of how community officials are choosing to allocate resources. If local governments are willing to become Second Amendment Sanctuaries, it’s likely that county agencies are not investing heavily in local resources to enforce court orders and other safety measures that may have some impact on a person’s ability to possess a firearm. For example, if a victim has a protective order that includes the surrender of a defendant’s firearms, but there aren’t available or designated domestic violence law enforcement officers who are specifically trained on protective orders and enforcing those provisions, the reality is that the defendant will likely continue to possess that weapon.

In 2018, 1,416 North Carolinians were shot and killed. Gun violence has reach crisis levels in our state and we must use evidence-based solutions, like stronger gun laws, as well as programs proven to prevent suicide, homicide, and accidental shootings. If local leaders truly want to protect their constituents and also uphold the Constitution, they should enforce sensible and constitutional gun safety laws that North Carolinians overwhelmingly support.