Editor’s note: This story was rearranged from when it was first published earlier today and the animal control item was corrected.
By Connie Leinbach
The Hyde County commissioners at their meeting tonight at 6 p.m. will hold the first of two public hearings on the adoption of a revised Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance for Hyde County. This ordinance is in response to the new FEMA flood maps, which will be adopted in June.
The Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board on Tuesday, recommended raising the free board level, which is where your living quarters start, to nine feet above mean high tide. Since the proposed flood maps show different elevations all over the village, this level will keep things uniform.
Another item on the agenda seeks approving a resolution supporting the Second Amendment and have Hyde become a “Sanctuary County” for firearms ownership.
The resolution (in packet one) says the right of the people to keep and bear arms is guaranteed as an individual right under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The resolution further states, “…that if the government of the State of North Carolina shall not infringe upon the inalienable rights granted by the Second Amendment, Hyde County shall become a “Sanctuary County” for all firearms unconstitutionally prohibited by the government of the State of North Carolina in that, Hyde County will prohibit its employees from enforcing the unconstitutional actions of the state government.”
If passed, Hyde would join several other North Carolina counties passing such resolutions in recent months.
A few of those counties are Beaufort, McDowell and Currituck. Their resolutions were included in the Feb. 3 Hyde commissioners meeting packets here.
Dare County commissioners passed a resolution at its Feb. 4 meeting expressing support for the U.S. Constitution in general while also vowing to “oppose any and all attempts to infringe upon these rights and freedoms, including the right to keep and bear arms, as defined in the Second Amendment.” The resolution stopped short of declaring Dare County a Second Amendment Sanctuary according to the Outer Banks Voice. Approximately two dozen speakers on both sides of this issue spoke during the public comment period.
The impetus for these resolutions is stated in the Currituck resolution, “the Currituck Board of Commissioners is concerned about any effort by the North Carolina Genera Assembly or the United State Congress to enact legislation infringing upon a citizen’s individual right to possess a firearm and to use a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes as the United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution.”
Last April, the Pender County commissioners, after public discussion, tabled a similar resolution to an unspecified date; it has not been brought back before the board.
According to a report Jan. 23 in the Wilmington Port City Daily:
“The term sanctuary city is typically used when referring to immigration — not firearms — but the term has been co-opted by gun-rights activists in recent years.
“The term ‘sanctuary city’ is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. “Cities, counties and some states have a range of informal policies as well as actual laws that qualify as ‘sanctuary’ positions,” according to a 2018 CNN story.
“By this loose definition, a gun sanctuary city or county would, in theory, refuse to cooperate with federal entities if gun rights were restricted by new laws.
“The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, ‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’
“And Article VI of the Constitution reads, ‘This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.’
“This means that federal law and the Constitution supersede any state or local laws — it is the supreme law of the land.”
Also on the agenda are an amendment to the animal control ordinance creating an Animal Control Advisory board to hear appeals on dangerous dog determinations, and a proposed draft for a solar ordinance, both in packet two.
I do not see the need for Hyde County to become a “sanctuary county” for firearms ownership. The second amendment of our constitution already protects our citizen’s lawful gun ownership.
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