Colorado Sheriff: We Have Not And Will Not Enforce New Gun Control

Weld County, Colorado, Sheriff John Cooke says he and his deputies have not enforced the gun control laws passed in March and they will not enforce those laws.

Before the laws were passed Cooke said he would not enforce them, and since their passage he has made good on his promise.

According to The New York Times, Cooke explains his position by pointing to the myriad ambiguities and gray areas in the new laws. 

For  example, at a recent press conference Cooke held up two 30-round magazines, one of which was possessed before the new ban went into effect on July 1st and the other was purchased afterward–“maybe.” He then “[shuffled] the magazines, which look identical, and asked the audience to tell the difference.” 

As the audience sat unable to comply, Cooke asked: “How is a deputy or an officer supposed to know which is which?”

Cooke is joined by other sheriffs both in his own state and around the country who refuse to enforce new gun control laws passed this year. 

Siskiyou, California Sheriff Jon Lopey was part of a delegation of CA sheriffs who met with Governor Jerry Brown to ask him to veto gun control laws in October. Brown vetoed some, but signed others. A ban on lead ammunition, an expansion of the criminal storage law, and a ban on “conversion kits” for ammunition magazines were among the laws Brown signed.

Lopey says: “Our way of life means nothing to these politicians.” Likewise, he said, gun control does not mean that much to him and its enforcement is “not a priority.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins