Cherokee County, Ga., 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, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 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 U.S. 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. The lawmen have promised to do whatever is in their power to protect the rights of gun owners in their counties. 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.