MATHEWS COUNTY, Va. — The Mathews County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution to become a Second Amendment Sanctuary on Tuesday.
The board voted 5-0 to approve the resolution. This comes after similar moves from several localities around Virginia that want to oppose gun control bills that infringe on Constitutional rights.
Several councils and boards of supervisors in cities and counties around Hampton Roads are discussing the impacts of a legislative package of gun control bills that will be introduced once General Assembly is in session come January.
One of those bills, SB16, would make it a felony to own assault firearms.
Since Democrats have the majority in both the Senate and House of Delegates, some citizens are concerned these bills will be passed without regard to their constitutional rights.
As a preventative measure, leadership in a few localities has decided to preemptively tackle the issue head-on by making their areas Second Amendment Sanctuaries. These sanctuaries would make city leaders responsible for opposing any state law that violates or threatens the Constitutional right to own a gun.
The York County Board is also voting on Tuesday, Dec. 17 on a resolution that could label their locality a Constitutional County.
If approved, the York County Board of Supervisors would agree to uphold the Second Amendment rights for their citizens and to oppose any efforts to unconstitutionally restrict those rights. That's according to the resolution which you can read below:
Chesapeake, Gloucester County and Isle of Wight are the only areas whose city leaders have passed those resolutions.
However, hundreds of gun rights proponents have attended several council and board meetings in Virginia Beach, Hampton and Suffolk to voice their support for similar resolutions being passed in their cities.
Governor Northam has already made it clear that these resolutions won't stop him from passing "common sense" gun laws. A spokesman from Attorney General Mark Herring's office said these sanctuaries appear symbolic and don't have any legal power.