Ohio counties choosing to become ‘Second Amendment sanctuaries’

By: Tyler Buchanan - February 3, 2020 2:41 pm

Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images.

A number of counties throughout Ohio are showing their pro-gun bona fides by declaring themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”

The relatively new trend has led county commissioners around the state to pass resolutions affirming support for the Second Amendment. This includes Lawrence County down near the Ohio River, Jackson and Vinton counties in Southeast Ohio and Clermont County near Cincinnati. Trustees in a rural township in Perry County that is represented by House Speaker Larry Householder even passed such a resolution earlier this year.

In essence, these resolutions are merely ceremonial. The Vinton-Jackson Courier newspaper quoted a Vinton County commissioner as saying the passed resolution does not change or create a new law, and is symbolic in nature.

The Vinton County resolution states that the commissioners there are “concerned” about any legislation or executive order that “could be interpreted as unconstitutionally infringing the rights of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.”

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Tyler Buchanan

Tyler Buchanan is an award-winning journalist who has covered Ohio politics and government for the past decade. A Bellevue native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, he most recently spent 6 1/2 years as a reporter and editor of The Athens Messenger and Vinton-Jackson Courier newspapers. He is a member of the BG News Alumni Society Board and was a 2019 fellow in the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism.