Defiant Sheriffs, Continued

We have some new entries for our list of Sheriffs Defying the Unconstitutional and Lawless Theft of Our Guns — Or Who Are At Least Saying They Do. 

Vanessa Cole contributes this article on “Charleston County [S.C.] Sheriff Al Cannon.” He “vowed Thursday to ignore any proposed gun-control measures he deems unconstitutional, joining a growing chorus of lawmen across the nation opposed to new firearm restrictions. In his opinion, Cannon said, those demanding harsher gun laws are ‘taking advantage of broken hearts’ to push their agenda and restrict ‘a vital right’ in the wake of the shooting massacre in Newtown, Conn.”

If I don’t move to Texas, I may have to head for South Carolina: our next two reports originate there as well. “Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said he doesn’t think the government should tell people what they can and cannot have.” Hmmm. Including heroin, Sheriff Wright? How about privately minted coins? Several thousand Oxycodone pills no doctor has prescribed? An incandescent light bulb or a toilet that requires only one flush? But I digress. “‘I’m not going to confiscate weapons from people that are law-abiding citizens. I’m not doing it and I don’t care what kind of orders come down,’ Wright said.” In a separate story, Sheriff Wright urged serfs to arm themselves after an unofficial rapist attacked a woman in a local park. No word on whether the louse was moonlighting for the TSA.

The sheriff’s advice to take arms against criminals raises an intriguing corollary. We know from common sense and academic studies that more guns mean less crime, to paraphrase John Lott’s memorable title. We’ve generally, tacitly confined that adage to crimes from private assailants. But it also works against the ones who leech off our taxes as they lord it over us. When those thugs, murderers, thieves, and liars know we can shoot back…well, it reduces the number and severity of their atrocities against us. It’s no accident that as Leviathan’s licensing, registration, regulation, restriction, prohibition, and all-around meddling with our weapons have increased, so have its depredations on us.

Update: Utah’s on the bandwagon, too. Joe Mangum sends this article about the warning they issued Obummer.

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11:13 am on January 24, 2013