Revolutionary War attorney and orator Patrick Henry – the man Henry County was named for – is famous for saying “Give me liberty or give me death.”Wednesday night, the patriot’s fiery spirit mixed with compassionate pleas during an hour-long discussion on making Henry County a “Second Amendment Sanctuary.”
After nearly 20 individual presentations ranging from gun owners to educators to community leaders and military veterans, Commissioners stopped short of declaring Henry County a Second Amendment Sanctuary, passing instead a resolution “in support of the right to keep and bear arms.” It was a middle-ground approach on a divisive issue creating headlines nationwide.
The resolution, passed unanimously, was largely symbolic, however.
“As a practical matter, the Commissioners, whatever they pass, will not be binding or have any effect on what state laws are enforced or prosecuted,” County Attorney Joel Harvey explained to the approximately 60 people who attended inside the Old Circuit Courtroom.
“Commissioners can’t direct the sheriff how to do his job and Commissioners have no oversight over sheriff’s deputies on what laws they enforce or any other community in the county. The prosecutor has very, very wide discretion on what laws to enforce. So for a practical matter, no matter what you pass, it may not have teeth to have an impact on how things are done day-to-day. In Indiana you have very little control over gun regulation at a local level.
“If the commissioners passed a law saying there are no restrictions on guns, if a person walked into a New Castle school tomorrow with a handgun, I can guarantee you they would be arrested and convicted, regardless of what resolution is passed,” Harvey added. “There’s not a whole lot that can be done to create a binding piece of legislation from this meeting.”
Still, gun rights advocates at the meeting applauded and seemed pleased with the Commissioners’ actions. At the same time, concerns from those at the meeting who didn’t want Henry County to go down a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” road were heard as well.
Here’s a recap of the discussion, which was filled with thoughtful presentations, passionate give-and-take as well as somewhat emotional testimonials about gun rights and the consequences created by those who abuse them.
In favor of 2nd amendment sanctuary
More than half of those who spoke at the meeting favored the 2nd Amendment Sanctuary approach. A Second Amendment Sanctuary is defined as states, counties, or localities in the United States that have adopted laws or resolutions to prohibit or impede the enforcement of certain gun control measures perceived as violative of the Second Amendment such as universal gun background checks, high capacity magazine bans, assault weapon bans, red flag laws, etc.
Martin Booher supported it because he didn’t want to see Henry County and Indiana “end up like Virginia,” where the state legislature is taking an aggressive anti-gun approach to curb violence.
Other gun rights advocates said more laws controlling guns for law-abiding people would do nothing to prevent criminals from using them for unlawful deeds.
“The sanctuary is here to protect us,” Middletown resident Blake Cooper said. “You have the power to put it in writing.”
“I don’t ever want to feel like I don’t have an option to protect myself with something of equal force,” Rich Lee said.
Against 2nd amendment sanctuary
New Castle resident Beverly Matthews said she worries that a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary status conflicts with the recent local Stellar Communities campaign to make “the rest of life the best of life in a safe and welcoming community.”
“So I’m speaking against being a sanctuary and that’s because I believe the laws are already there,” Matthews said. “I agree with Sheriff Ric McCorkle and Commissioner Kim Cronk. I also believe it could open us up to a lawsuit possibility.”
Matthews later objected to someone from Hamilton County taking the microphone and advocating for a Second Amendment Sanctuary in Henry County.
“Why are we allowing someone from Hamilton County to come over and tell us what to do?” Matthews asked. “Also, why are we letting them talk about Virginia? This is not Virginia,” Matthews said in reference to a recent rally at their statehouse where lawmakers are trying to pass legislation severely restricting gun use. This is Henry County, Indiana. We already have 2nd Amendment rights by the Constitution. I don’t want local people and local efforts to be drowned out by people from out of our community coming in and trying to take over.”
Jorgena Watson said the 2nd Amendment Sanctuary troubled her as well.
“Local governments cannot decide if they don’t like a state law, they don’t have to enforce it,” Watson said. “While states may have powers unique from the federal government, no such duality exists at the municipal level.”
Another concerned citizen, Nan Polk, challenged those in favor of the 2nd Amendment Sanctuary status by asking for a show of hands on how many have had guns taken away or even threatened to be taken away by local authorities here.
But, Polk continued, there are plenty of examples of guns in the hands of wrong people doing harm. So far in 2020 nationwide, there have been 28 mass shootings. In 2019, there were 417.
“Last year in Richmond, there was a man who was very upset and mentally unstable,” she said. “He took a gun and went into a Richmond Middle School. His mom called the police and because they responded promptly, there wasn’t a loss of life. That’s the kind of thing the red flag law is trying to make happen.”
A man in the audience responded to Polk’s story by saying “Prevent violence by giving your guns up? No, it don’t work that way.”
Commissioner reaction
Guns have always been a part of Kim Cronk’s life. But the former sheriff, now President of the Commissioners, said they have also created traumatic moments for him that linger to this day.
“This is a hard topic for me,” Cronk said. “I’ve been a police officer for 40 years. I also have been a school teacher and it does hurt. I will explain why it hurts. In 1977, two blocks from here, we did a drug raid and the guy opened fire on us. My best friend, Ron Lampe, a detective standing beside me, he got shot six times and he died. Richard Scott got shot in the chest right in front of me. That’s a traumatic experience.
“I understand schools are not necessarily the right place to have guns for our children but it’s getting to the point where we have to have police in our schools because of illegal guns.
“I arrested a 17-year-old boy several years ago for dealing one marijuana cigarette,” Cronk said. “Two months later, the boy was sitting in front of my house. He was there to kill me.”
Then pausing to regain composure, Cronk said, “This is personal. It hurts.
“We were getting up at 6 a.m. to go to work and there was a guy beating on the front door of our house. It was a dispatcher who was riding with Deputy Tony Huffman. He was screaming that the deputy had been shot right in front of my house. The guy was there to kill me with a 12-gauge shotgun and Deputy Huffman went up to the car. He shot him with a 12-gauge in the chest, went to the back of the car, and beat the gun against his head, then stole his police car and ran over the top of him.
Now Mr. Huffman, who’s paralyzed from the waist down, survived. He sent me an email today and said ‘I support not necessarily a sanctuary county, but a constitutional county.”
Cronk said that was just one of four shootings he’s experienced since 1985 on the sheriff’s department.
“I had another best friend – Malcolm Grass of Hancock County – we were working undercover on an investigation in Greenfield,” Cronk said. “He was with the FBI and one of the guys who had been working shot him with an automatic weapon and killed him.
“Guns have their purposes and I want you to know, I am a lifetime carrying member,” Cronk said. “The officer that was shot and killed – we owned a gun shop at 25th and Broad and we sold guns – not illegally, but legally.
“There have been instances – I know of at least five in Henry County – that I went to a house on a person who had mental disorders or a drug addiction who had made life threats on their family members and their children,” Cronk added. “And we seized the gun under the red flag law. But in the state of Indiana, the red flag law has due process.”
Northern District Commissioner Ed Tarantino said the answer to the gun question is in the middle, not on either extreme.
“We do have a lot of people in this country who are extreme on both ends,” Tarantino said. “As a county, we don’t want to be extreme on either end. As Commissioners, I’m pretty sure we all want to protect the Second Amendment and we are all for protecting your rights as citizens. We all took the same oath. We’re going to protect and defend the Constitution.
“I think some of your concerns for Indiana are a little premature,” Tarantino continued. “No doubt there are places in this country where there are people who are trying to take weapons away. They are trying to put in place laws that would infringe upon the Second Amendment. But, I don’t view Red Flag law as doing that here in Indiana. I think everyone would have to admit though there are certain people that don’t deserve to have guns and there has to be some remedy for taking guns out of their hands.”
Before he offered an opinion, Southern District Commissioner Ed Yanos said he was probably going to offend people on both sides of the issue.
When you look at the issue of guns in this country, it’s become very politically charged. Talk to some people and they believe there is no need for anyone to have a gun. Talk to other people and they have the opposite opinion.”
“While I feel this is a well-written document that Kim Cronk read and it really has no power at all, it is a statement that does carry some political clout. I have, for most of my life, been a believer that the Second Amendment was not created for going out and hunting. The Founding Fathers had just finished fighting against an overbearing British government. The reason they created a 2nd Amendment to the Constitution was so the populace of those 13 colonies and the succeeding states that came after that were able to defend themselves against an overbearing government.
“I believe we should have the right to have far more firepower than a lot of people think we should have. I think that an AR 15 with a 40-round magazine in no way gives us the kind of power we would need to throw off the yoke of an oppressive government, but it’s the best thing we can hope for at this time.
I support this measure as a way of making purely a political statement. It really has, as Joel said, no affect on the law.
Sheriff McCorkle
Henry County Sheriff Ric McCorkle summed up the memorable meeting.
“I agree with this resolution,” he said. “As I said before, I’m not going to come and take your guns unless you’ve broken the law. I will defend your constitutional right to my death – and that goes for the right to speak your opinion and that goes for your right to keep and bear arms. This resolution is a step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned.
“It’s not going to be like Canada. It’s not going to be like Australia,” McCorkle concluded. “We’re going to make sure you’re safe and that you have a right to carry a gun. And for those people who don’t want to carry a gun, I guarantee you if you call us, we’re going to come running.”