WHITEHEAD: Will stand for rights

Richard Whitehead is associated with the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers (CSPO) and Oathkeepers. I was an organizer of Oathkeepers in 2011-2014 in the Panhandle. Oathkeepers is a C-corp to avoid the hassles that 501-C3 groups were encountering with the IRS in 2010. You may remember the 2nd Amendment Rally at Black Sheep in 2013 or when Sheriff Mack, the founder of CSPO, spoke at the Lincoln Day dinner in 2014. Both organizations were dedicated to instilling the importance of the US Constitution in the daily routines of police, firefighters and military personnel both active and retired. Neither organization was anti-government, both believing liberty requires government and the rule of law.

The Bill of Rights is there for the bad times.

What if the President had bowed to pressure from the Democrats and the media that demanded he “lock down the entire country” forcing New York City restrictions on every part. Should the sheriff enforce those restrictions here? Saying, “It’s out of my hands; the first amendment doesn’t apply because the supremacy clause of the Constitution says so.” Wouldn’t you want our sheriff to act like sheriffs in eastern Washington refusing to enforce gun restrictions emanating from Olympia?

In 2013 Bonner County Sheriff Wheeler railed against President Obama’s gun restrictions refusing to enforce them. This is the type of attitude we need to protect our God given rights from politicians and their “good intentions” for our “safety.” Whitehead’s acknowledgment of the concepts from those organizations speaks volumes for me.

JOHN MACKEY

Hayden