By ELAINE WILSON-REDDY

Contributing columnist

The fiscal court is a circus and their latest act is truly incredulous. The court, in a stunning move that defies logic, declared Boyle County a Second Amendment County at the behest of a grassroots movement called Kentucky United.

I have so many questions on this, there might not be enough space to get them all down.

Let’s look at the absurdity of this action. A local county governing body just reaffirmed rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, i.e. federal law. This act means nothing. According to the article in The Advocate-Messenger, Magistrate Tom Ellis worked for weeks helping prepare this pointless resolution. He worked for weeks on a document that carries zero legal weight. Why was this so important to him? Votes, perhaps?

Magistrate Jason Cullen stated that he supported the resolution because the Constitution was constantly under attack. He’s correct. The Constitution is constantly being challenged, which is the purpose of the document. It’s how we got the amendments. If he’s concerned about whether it’s obvious that the fiscal court supports the Constitution, then declare Boyle a Constitution County and support it as a whole instead of cherry-picking his favorite parts.

On the other hand, this resolution does open the door for other special interest groups to have the court declare Boyle County to be a [fill in the blank] county. Will Boyle become an anti-abortion or “Christian” county?

Maybe we could become the “legal gambling, prostitution, and weed” county. After all, Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution states that “citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens of the several states.” If they can do it in Nevada, we should be able to do it in Boyle County!! (We can’t, but the court isn’t concerned about jurisdiction or legalities.)

The resolution was a waste of time and taxpayer money. It was a partisan, playing-to-their-base move. Why would anyone think their Second Amendment rights were in jeopardy, especially in Kentucky, where anyone, literally anyone, can open carry with zero proof of knowledge of how to use the aforementioned firearm?

Three white dudes were allowed into the Kentucky capitol building with their semi-automatic weapons by the on-duty, state-salaried guard, because, “it’s their house and their right.” According to Statista.com, 58% of mass shootings in the United States since 1982 has been perpetrated by white men. What could possibly go wrong?

As a side note, I wonder if the guard would be as welcoming if the guns had been carried by men of color. Just a thought.

Maybe we would be better off declaring Boyle as an umbrella county, since teachers were not allowed into the capitol with umbrellas when they were protesting the former carpetbagger governor Bevin. We all know how scary an umbrella is in the hands of someone who isn’t licensed to use it. I shudder at the thought of teachers across our state rising up with their umbrellas. Much scarier than white dudes with semi-automatic weapons. (I couldn’t find any instances of mass killings by teachers with umbrellas, by the way.)

I would love to see a diverse group of local African Americans, Middle Easterners, Asians and Hispanics ask the fiscal court to declare Boyle a “discrimination-free” county. Or have local Muslim, Hindu and Jewish followers ask to declare Boyle a “Religious Freedom” county. How long would it take Ellis to prepare those resolutions?

You get my point. If the fiscal court can declare our county a Second Amendment County, they can literally declare it to be anything they want. What would happen if a group they didn’t agree with asked for the same resolution? On what legal or jurisdictional precedent was this resolution based? Did anyone check or ask? Did anyone consider the precedent set by this action?

And what was the county attorney thinking? Surely he took constitutional law in law school. Did he do any research to ensure this resolution didn’t encroach on or restrict the rights of the citizens who disagree with this type of political pandering? What is the KRS that supports this action? Is it listed in the resolution? (I looked on the county website for a copy of the resolution but didn’t find it.)

Where are the adults in the room? Didn’t ANYONE think to tell the representative from Kentucky United that while individual magistrates personally supported the group’s cause, it would be inappropriate and place the court in an awkward legal position to create and support this resolution?

So many questions. If anyone has a non-GOP special interest group that would like the court to declare us the county of, let me know. How could they say no? Let’s do this!

“The Constitution shall never be construed… to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” — Samuel Adams

(Even Sam knew this resolution is whack.)

 

1. Elaine Wilson-Reddy, JD, is a professional educator, consultant and advocate. She lives in Danville.