Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin has joined several other Oregon sheriffs in sending a letter to Vice President Joe Biden. He and sheriffs from Grant, Linn and Crook Counties oppose potential federal laws that could affect law-abiding gun owners.
The sheriffs say they will not enforce laws that they believe violate the 2nd amendment to the constitution. Sheriff Hanlin says he has heard from Douglas County residents who are concerned about how they would be affected if gun control measures were enacted. "People were getting fairly anxious about that."
Hanlin says he objects to at least one of the recommendations Vice President Biden has made. "I know one of the restrictions that was talked about was illegalizing semi-automatic weapons, or what they refer to as assault weapons, and my personal belief is that that would be infringement upon our second amendment rights."
Sheriff Tom Turner of Lane County has not sent a letter to the Vice President. He says he's too busy dealing with his county's public safety crisis and he will not react to the national gun control issue in haste.
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