GREELEY, Colo. — A Colorado sheriff says he won’t enforce two gun-control measures waiting to be signed into law by Governor John Hickenlooper.
Weld County Sheriff John Cooke said Democratic lawmakers are scrambling after recent mass shootings and the bills are ‘‘feel-good, knee-jerk reactions that are unenforceable.’’
Comments
Two words to Weld County Sheriff John Cooke, "You're fired."
Sheriffs are elected, not appointed. I would hazard a guess in his county, he has gauranteed his reelection.
Colorado is becoming like the weird states here in the NE. A large metro area full of "utopian" idealists, surrounded by more down to earth people.
The simple fact is, the governor, the legislature cannot do squat about his refusal to enforce their laws.
I wonder if he's related to that nice sheriff in Arizona? Good luck, Greeley!
Finally a chief that feels the same way his men do about gun control.
last time I checked police take an oath to uphold the law, not decide which to enforce...
Last time I checked, a county sheriff also takes an oath to uphold the Constitution.
Some of you like to conveniently forget that are such things as illegal laws. A county sheriff has no obligation to enforce those.
However, some of the citizens of of MA like the idea of violating the constitution, convicting all sorts of people, then when eventually their illegal laws are struck down, they will say "Oh well, too bad, so sad." The good sheriff is preventing that from happening.
By the way, this attitude is not just one sheriff, it is a very popular attitude once outside the confines of MA, NY, NJ, CT, RI and CA. People here do not mind having their constitutional rights violated, they are used to it. Gives them something to whine about.
Ummm...chief....how many mass murders by guns has your state endured over the past 15 years? How many wounded?
Better question is: In colorado how many would be home invaders thought better of it, given the state is well armed?
Another: How many people have defended themselves from attackers?
It isn't all about mass murders, though you would like to dance in the blood.
To answer question one: none. They bring weapons with them and use them when invading a home. http://www.gazette.com/articles/police-152292-house-one.html
To answer question two: plenty. That's why stand your ground laws are so effective. That is also why the new measure is likely to lose in court.
If he feels that strongly let him resign, and thus stop sucking on the public teat of taxpayers. As to the gun law, he can always join the effort to challenge its constitutionality.
What? Change the constitutionality? HUH? That is his point! There is nothing for him to change, the constitution is already on his side. The legislature is the group who is clueless and operating outside the constitution.
Why should he resign because of bunch of clowns cannot read simple words in a simple document? Let them resign, due to stupidity.
Challenge, not change, as in challenge the constitutionality of a gun ban. That's how the legal process works.
The sheriff took an oath. If he feels he cannot do his job, why should taxdollars be wasted on him not doing his job? Should we refuse to pay you veteran's benefits because the Vietnam war was a bad idea and violated the Constitution because there was no declaration of war?
The Globe has reported on this one sheriff. The number of Sheriffs who have stated they will not support anti 2A gun laws actually numbers over 340.
For a list:
http://cspoa.org/sheriffs-gun-rights/
Of course, the BG being the paper it is, would like to make it sound like he is an oddity, he isn't.
A bit of an explanation for New England readers. Many parts of this country do not function at all like this area. They are very rural in nature and do not have towns. As such, they do not have a "local" PD. Instead, the law enforcement is provided by the county sheriff's department. The County Sheriff is an elected position, not appointed. He answers to no one except the voters. His deputies are hired by him, they follow his directions. The State Police cannot be sent in to arrest an elected official like a Sheriff unless he has comitted a crime, they cannot "remove" him for failing to arrest people for crimes. The state legislature has no say over county sheriffs.
I grew up in such an area. In general, the County Sheriff is very aware of the wishes of the people in his county and acts accordingly. Go figure, he is elected.
EXCERPT: "they cannot "remove" him for failing to arrest people for crimes. The state legislature has no say over county sheriffs."
What, the man cannot be fired for refusing to obey the law? That's so weired a statement that I wonder if you got your facts straight, but if true, what kind of legalized madness is this?
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He's upset that they limited the magazines to 15 rounds. The members of his department must be lousy shots if they need more than 15 rounds to hit what they're aiming at!
Does that apply to law enforcement? I would hope not. Have you forgotten the Bank Robbery and shootout in North Hollywood in 1997?
Oh Pot, you need to do some research. The average officer only hits with less than 20% of the rounds fired. Remember that those rounds are fired under high stress situations, all sorts of body mechanics come into play. It is NOTHING like you have watched in movies.
Furthermore, one bullet rarely incapacitates an attacker. Police are not trained to shoot people in the head, it is too difficult a target. They are trained to shoot at body mass. They can easily put 5-7 rounds into the body mass and have the assailant keep coming and finish his attack.
Bear in mind, the police office may not be the only one doing the shooting, the bad guy may be shooting back. It is not easy taking careful aim when someone is shooting at you.
Simply put, you do not know what you are talking about.
Oh, one other thing, if they are using AR15's, they are further handicapped by the fact that it is NOT a very powerful weapon in terms of incapacitating people. Contrary to what you hear ninnies in the MSM harp day after day. Your average deer hunter fires a much more powerful cartridge. Troops have complained that they have shot insurgents as many as 10X without stopping the attacker.
Go watch your movies, they are fun, but they are far from reality.
Why do some commentators have a "reply" link and others don't?
Because we're special. OK, in all seriousess, you can only reply to the original post, not to the replies to that post.
Then fire him. His job is to uphold the law not to make law.