Oregon, My Oregon

From Fox, Oregon judge rules against local Second Amendment sanctuary laws, calling sheriffs who allow them 'racist.' "Oregon court says local governments can't set up 2d Amendment sanctuaries, but gun groups are more concerned with an inflammatory concurring opinion"

An Oregon judge accused sheriffs who, citing the Constitution, refuse to enforce federal and state gun control laws of embracing "racist and white nationalist ideologies."

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that local governments in the state cannot declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries and prohibit police from enforcing statewide gun laws. It was the first court defeat for the concept, which has been adopted by as many as 1,200 conservative local governments in response to Democrat-run cities and local jurisdictions that have declared themselves "sanctuary cities" and refuse to enforce federal immigration laws.

 

Some of these ordinances are symbolic, but the court reviewed a measure enacted in Columbia County that would have imposed thousands of dollars in fines on officials who attempt to enforce federal and state gun laws. It said the ordinance would "create a ‘patchwork quilt’ of firearms laws in Oregon, where firearms regulations that applied in some counties would not apply in Columbia County," which the court found would violate state law.

The county ordinance was backed by gun rights groups, including the Oregon Firearms Federation and Gun Owners of America (GOA).

While disappointed with the ruling overall, these groups expressed shock at a "scathing, incendiary, and frightening" concurring opinion by Chief Judge Jim Egan, who accused GOA of advancing conspiracy theories about the United Nations and invoking "antisemitic and racist tropes."

 

"During the course of argument, Intervenor's counsel referred to alleged United Nations (UN) and ‘international firearms laws.’ Those references allude to the conspiracy theory that the UN has or will impose mandates upon the federal government that will require state and local governments to do the bidding of the UN, specifically to disarm the American public in violation of the Second Amendment," Egan wrote.

"In other words, Intervenors came before this court and referenced UN mandates, which, as explained below, is a well-documented trope meant to invoke white supremacist, antisemitic fear of a takeover of our country by outsiders and minorities who are manipulated by an elite class of supervillains," he continued.

 

The Oregon Firearms Federation blasted Egan's opinion in a news release, calling his accusations a "lie" and "defamatory."

"We have come to expect these kinds of mindless and false attacks from the left and their pawns in the media," the group said. "But coming from the bench, this kind of blatantly false and hate filled rhetoric, is not only unsettling, it is dangerous. It inspires violence and retribution. It is frankly, unhinged."

The Court of Appeals ruling marks the first major legal defeat for the Second Amendment sanctuary movement.

So sanctuary cities, counties and states are just fine and dandy when applied to illegal immigration, but racist, and hence illegal, when applied to gun rights? Sometimes I think judges are just making this shit up as they go along.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Monday: Lana Turner up at The Other McCain.