The County Sheriff, Last Stand Against Tyranny

The recent Gun Rally on the State Capitol grounds in Richmond, Virginia, January 20, 2020, has suddenly attracted the eye of many across the country, and the world, as to what is happening in Virginia, and America. America was once thought of as the “Wild West” and Americans were considered ‘cowboys’ regardless where one lived. With that thought in mind the image of the western Sheriff stick’s out in the minds of many people as the one man who stood for Law and order according to all that was right and good, and as was found in the Bible and the U.S. Constitution.

At that rally in Richmond we beheld a heartening scene as the oldest Constitutional officer in the State—the Sheriff—was played out on the streets of the city. That scene was reminiscent of the days of old when the Sheriff stood in the middle of the street with his badge gleaming in the light, where he stood for the rights of the people against wrong doers, including any tyrant in the State, who would dare overthrow the law, or the Constitution which he had sworn an oath to uphold.

The importance of the public oath cannot be underscored enough, as it has legal significance. Sheriff Roger Scott, of Dekalb County, Illinois, who has served the citizens of his county for over 50 years, writing for the National Sheriff’s Association, said that “Elected sheriffs are accountable directly to the citizens of their county, the constitution of their state, and ultimately the United States Constitution” by sacred oath.

Some of Virginia’s finest Sheriff’s were standing shoulder to shoulder at that rally in Richmond to let the people know that they were serious about the oath of office they swore to uphold in support of their Federal and State Constitution. One of those men was twenty-five year veteran Sheriff Richard Vaughn, of Grayson County, Virginia.

Sheriff Vaughn said that the Sheriff is the “last line of defense for the citizens of our county when it comes to the second amendment right to bear arms.” Vaughn said “gun control measures will not work.”

Veteran Grayson County, Virginia Sheriff Richard Vaughn speaking to The Standard editor Michael Reed.

Vaughn is only one of the sworn protectors of Liberty to walk tall and defend their citizens from all enemies of the U.S. Constitution through the Bill of Rights. Today, rights guaranteed and secured by the Constitution are being shredded by the State and Federal government. The Sheriff, along with all elected officials and the military, have taken an oath to defend our government by obedience to the documents which protects our Republic so we may be safe from enemies without and enemies within. The Sheriff may truly be the last hope for saving our Constitutional Republic and our liberties.

Culpeper County Sheriff, Scott Jenkins, wrote on Facebook that “Every Sheriff and Commonwealth Attorney in Virginia will see the consequences if our General Assembly passes further unnecessary gun restrictions.” Jenkins said, “I plan to properly screen and deputize thousands of our law-abiding citizens to protect their constitutional right to own firearms.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote in “The value of Constitutions,” that “there is no honorable law enforcement authority in Anglo-American law so ancient as that of the county sheriff whose role as a peace officer goes back at least to the time of Alfred the Great.”

In England, the office of the sheriff came into existence around the 9th century. This makes the sheriff the oldest continuing, non-military, law enforcement entity in history. There the land was divided into geographic areas  called shires with an individual called a reeve, which meant guardian. Through time the words shire and reeve came together to be shire-reeve, guardian of the shire and eventually the word sheriff.

The Office of Sheriff grew in importance through the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The duties of the sheriff included keeping the peace, collecting taxes, maintaining jails, arresting fugitives, maintaining a list of wanted criminals, and serving orders and writs for the Kings Court. Most of those duties are still the foundation of the sheriff’s responsibilities in the United States. The responsibilities of the Office of Sheriff in England ebbed and flowed, depending on the mood and needs of kings and government. In 1215 the great document of freedom, the Magna Carta, was reluctantly signed by King John. This document had 63 clauses, 27 of which are related to the restrictions upon, as well as, the responsibilities of the sheriff. Through the passage of time, the English sheriff began to lose responsibility and power, and by the early 1800’s it became largely ceremonial, as it remains today.

The concept of sheriff, because of the vast British Empire, was exported to places such as Canada, Australia, India, and, of course, the American Colonies. In America, the office was modified over a period of time to fit democratic ideals. The Dutch settled the area called New Amsterdam (what is now New York City) in 1626. The Dutch version of the sheriff was called a “schout.” When the English claimed the land, the schout became the sheriff. In the other American colonies, following the pattern of English government, sheriffs were appointed. The first sheriff in America is believed to be Captain William Stone, appointed in 1634 for the Shire of Northampton in the colony of Virginia. The first elected sheriff was William Waters in 1652 in the same shire (shire was used in many of the colonies, before the word county replaced it.)

—  OFFICE OF SHERIFF, National Sheriff’s Association

 

In 1775, Edmund Burke declared, “Bad laws are the worst form of tyranny.” By that definition, we have tyranny today. Thousands of new laws are being shoved down our throats, and most bear little resemblance to the Constitution. Indeed, the very essence of tyranny is defined by the blind enforcement of bad laws. A Sheriff has the power, the authority, and the responsibility to resist tyranny and unconstitutional laws and actions.

Our founders understood that Liberty was our most important asset to defend. Samuel Adams said, “The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards. And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks.”

Current Virginia Democrat lawmakers are proposing legislation that appears to violate their oath of office, and if passed will break the law as found in both State and Federal Constitutions.

The New American magazine article, “Sheriffs Oppose Encroachment of Federal Agents Into Their Jurisdictions,” stated: “There are dozens of candidates for sheriff nationwide who share [the] view on the supremacy of state government and the constitutional locus of police power. These lawmen read the Constitution and nowhere in it do they find authorization for the federalization of law enforcement. In fact, they argue, the Constitution’s federal system endows local police with greater authority than any federal agent when it comes to enforcing the laws in their counties.”

The article continued, “… the sheriffs and sheriff candidates … firmly assert their preeminence in the field of law enforcement. Their principle premise is that as sheriffs are the highest elected law-enforcement agent in the land and they are directly answerable to the voters and chosen by them, then they stand on the top rung of the police ladder. Federal officials, they argue, are not on the ladder at all, as the Constitution does not endow the federal government with police power and therefore the Tenth Amendment reserves that right to the states and to the people.”

In 1994, Sheriff Richard Mack stood up to the Federal government and filed a lawsuit to stop the “Brady bill” that was signed into law by President Clinton. Six other sheriffs from around the country joined the lawsuit. On June 27, 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the Brady bill was in fact unconstitutional and that the Federal Government could not commandeer state or county officers for federal bidding [Mack/Printz v. USA]. Justice Scalia wrote for the majority, stating, “The Federal Government may not compel the states to enact or enforce a federal regulatory program.”

In his book titled, “The County Sheriff — America’s Last Hope”, Sheriff Richard Mack wrote: “If we are to get America back, if we are indeed to return to the constitutional Republic we were meant to be, then it will be up to us, the sheriffs of America… who have the guts and dedication to tell the feds that we will no longer tolerate their intervention, control, meddling, mandates, or criminal behavior.”

 

“That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed…” — Virginia Constitution

 

The Sheriff is the chief law enforcement authority in our county, and he is elected by the ultimate power source, We The People. It is time for us to elect County Sheriffs who will walk tall and defend their citizens from all enemies of our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. The future of our constitutional Republic may depend on it.”

But the Sheriff’s of Virginia are standing strong, hopefully like a Stonewall, doing their job. These Sheriff’s declare they will keep their oaths to serve, protect, uphold, and defend the State and U.S. Constitutions. Since the November 2019, election over 135 City and County governments in Virginia have declared themselves to be 2nd Amendment Sanctuaries, with the Sheriff standing with them, and that is spreading to other states.

A  majority of the Virginia sheriffs have indicated that they will not enforce Unconstitutional “laws”. Not only do many of these proposed laws likely violate the United States Constitution, but they violate the Virginia Constitution as well. If that is the case, these laws would be void ab initio or of no legal effect, as if it had never existed or happened, “to be treated as invalid from the outset,”

Amelia County, Virginia, Sheriff Ricky L. Walker was quoted in The Washington Post as saying, “My oath of office is to uphold the Constitution of the United States.” He explained that he would not confiscate guns even under a judge’s order, if the law at the center of the judge’s ruling was unconstitutional.

The Virginia Constitution is even more direct and emphatic than the Federal Bill of Rights regarding the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms. It states: “That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed…”

Illinois Sheriff Scott concludes that, “The Sheriff and all those in law enforcement should never forget that he or she has a calling to be “a minister of God for good.” Romans 13:4.”

 

 

Michael Reed is Editor of The Standard.