Sun Journal New Bern: Sheriff assures crowd he supports Second Amendment

CCTA MEETING FEBRUARY 19, 2013--2nd Amendment Rights

By Sue Book, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 19:32 PM.

Gun control issues and Second Amendment rights have taken center stage in recent months with mass shootings calling into question the kinds of guns and ammunition the amendment allows and the kinds of people who should be allowed to carry firearms.

Coastal Carolina Taxpayers Association hosted a lively meeting on the topic “Second” Tuesday night that brought more than 125 (about 145 people) group members and guests to BridgePointe Hotel. Area law enforcement leaders were also invited to share their position on gun law enforcement.

Association chairman Rick Hopkins said, “Our main objective is to bring the issues to a public forum so there is good discussion, education.”

He read the Second Amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

“I don’t know how much clearer the founders could have made it,” he said. “The Second Amendment was not to provide us with the right to go hunting. It was to allow us to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government.”

Craven County Sheriff Jerry Monette was the only sworn law enforcement official who accepted the invitation to speak, although New Bern Police Chief Toussaint E. Summers, Jr. came by but did not speak and Jones County Sheriff Danny Heath and Trent Woods Police Chief Tony Woods sent a statements.

“I am sworn to uphold the Constitution,” Monette said, and he supports a person’s right to bear arms and participates in area gun shows to facilitate permitting.


He said, “I’ve seen a deluge of permit requests, accelerated demand especially from women” just like the last time gun control issues came to the forefront in Congress and the media. “I signed 106 permits in the last week.”


CONTINUED:  http://www.newbernsj.com/news/local/sheriff-assures-crowd-he-supports-second-amendment-1.99172