Waterloo Times

As the number of counties opting for countrywide resolutions rises to six, Black Hawk County has confirmed its ruling to not implement Second Amendment sanctuaries, The Courier reported.

“It's not so much that these 'sanctuary' resolutions are bad,” Mike Maharrey wrote on Twitter earlier this month. “The problem is they call them something they're not. They create sanctuaries for nothing."

A Second Amendment sanctuary occurs when a city, town or county adopts a resolution to reject the enforcement of state or federal gun laws perceived to violate Second Amendment rights, according to The Trace. Targeted regulations commonly include red flag laws, universal gun background checks and bans on assault-style weapons. 

Chairman Dan Trelka, serving as the sole Republican representative on the Board of Supervisor, initially suggested a resolution to make the county a Second Amendment sanctuary. But the motion was not seconded by anyone, The Courier reported.

“I don’t think it should be a surprise to anybody where I stand on this issue,” Trelka said, according to The Courier. “I’m a law-abiding gun owner. I enjoy the rights of gun ownership and I don’t want them to be infringed at all.”

The counties that chose to pass resolutions include Northeast Iowa’s Hardin County. In addition, 17 states, including Kansas and South Dakota in 2010 and Missouri this year, have adopted statewide Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions. Nearly 2,000 counties in 17 states have “sanctuary” status, according to The Courier.

The Iowa Firearms Coalition to promote the Second Amendment sanctuary initiative by uploading a resolution sample to its website last month. In correlation with the efforts, a representative is scheduled to speak at the Black Hawk County GOP central committee meeting Aug. 19, The Courier reported.