Only 60 sheriffs out of 3,000+ have declared they will not enforce any gun control laws that they deem unconstitutional.

Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison has joined a vocal set of lawmen across the nation in declaring that he will not enforce any gun control laws that he deems unconstitutional.

In an open letter, Garrison accused President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and some members of Congress of “attempting to exploit the deaths of innocent victims” to prevent “law-abiding American citizens from possessing certain firearms and ammunition magazines.”

Some 60 sheriffs from across the country have written or signed similar letters that have been gathered on the Website of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a Texas-based group that in 2011 was identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-government “Patriot” group.

There are about 3,080 county sheriff's offices/departments in the United States; they range from one- or two-member forces to the 16,400-member (plus 400 reserve deputies) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The average sheriff's department in the United States employs 24.5 sworn officers. The nation's sheriffs are represented by the National Sheriffs' Association, founded in 1940.

The lawmen have promised to do whatever is in their power to protect the rights of gun owners in their counties.

In the wake of the Newtown school shooting in which 26 people were killed by a lone gunman carrying an assault weapon, Obama unveiled what many consider to be the most ambitious gun-control agenda in American history. His proposal calls for a ban on military-style assault weapons like the one used in Newtown, a crackdown on gun trafficking, a ban on ammunition magazines holding more than 10 bullets and universal background checks for all gun buyers, including those who make purchases at gunshows, which had been exempt.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has introduced a bill in the Senate to ban assault weapons.
Republicans quickly called Obama’s proposal an attack on the Second Amendment, though the administration has said that the president isn’t advocating taking guns from people who already own them.

Larry Amerson, president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, said there’s never been a discussion about taking guns, and some people are using that argument to distract from the president’s goals of stemming violence.

“There are some people who are trying to change the focus of this discussion and using this argument of disarming the American public, which that takes the attention away from the problem we are trying to deal with,” he said.

Other Georgia sheriffs included on the CSPOA’s list of sheriffs who have publicly come out against Obama’s proposals include Sheriff Stacy L. Nicholson of Gilmer County and Sheriff Scott Berry of Oconee County.

“I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America,” Nicholson said. “We would not be a part of going door-to-door and rounding up weapons. I am firmly against it, would not be a part or it, nor would I permit it to be done – if within my power to prevent it.”
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/crime-law/local-sheriff-wages-battle-with-obama-over-guns/nT4cF/