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Second Amendment sanctuary discussion on hold for Lyon County

MARSHALL — A discussion of whether Lyon County should declare itself a “Second Amendment sanctuary” didn’t continue at this week’s meeting of the Lyon County Board.

The topic sparked a lot of discussion in July, but Commissioner Steve Ritter said he requested that further discussion be taken off the board’s Aug. 3 agenda.

At their July 20 meeting, county commissioners were unable to decide whether they should move forward with a sanctuary resolution or a more general statement of support for Second Amendment rights. They had ended the discussion by directing County Attorney Rick Maes to draft a possible resolution or statement for their next meeting.

Since then, Ritter said, he had heard from around seven or eight county residents, who were divided “probably 50-50” between people voicing support for further discussion of Second Amendment sanctuaries, and people who thought the county didn’t need to pass such a resolution. He said he asked for the discussion to be removed from this week’s agenda.

At this point, it’s not certain when or if discussion of a Second Amendment sanctuary resolution will go back before the board at a future meeting, Ritter said.

Lyon County Administrator Loren Stomberg said he had not received a lot of feedback from the public on the matter aside from one phone call the day after the July 20 meeting, and one email that arrived after the agenda item for this week’s meeting was removed. Stomberg said the caller was not in favor of a sanctuary resolution, while the email, from the Lyon County Republicans, was in favor of becoming a sanctuary county.

So far, several Minnesota counties including Wright, McLeod and Sibley counties, and more counties in the northwest part of the state, have passed resolutions in support of gun rights. Wright County’s “Second Amendment Dedicated County” resolution said the county would oppose efforts to restrict Second Amendment rights, and that the Wright County commissioners would refuse to use county resources to enforce any mandate, law or policy that infringes on the right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms.

Lyon County commissioners have discussed the possibility of passing their own Second Amendment sanctuary resolution twice, both this July and in March 2020. Both times, Maes cautioned that making such a resolution would be mainly a symbolic gesture, and not have a legal effect.

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