Home county of UNC-Charlotte victim might join wave of Second Amendment ‘sanctuaries’
Natalie Henry-Howell is no stranger to gun violence.
Her son, 21-year-old Riley Howell, was killed April 30 in a campus shooting at UNC-Charlotte when he tackled the gunman.
Nine months later, Henry-Howell found herself addressing Haywood County commissioners and residents in her hometown of Waynesville — Riley’s hometown — who had gathered to discuss making the county a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary.
Howell didn’t know what it was before seeing a notice about the Jan. 21 commissioner’s meeting, she told McClatchy News. She looked it up beforehand.
“I still don’t quite get it — why anyone would not be in support of a gun safety measure whose purpose is to literally save a life,” she said.
A Facebook group calling for the resolution garnered more than 3,000 members before the meeting, according to Blue Ridge Public Radio, prompting commissioners to open it up for a public comment session.
After more than two hours, The Mountaineer reported 36 speakers had come to the podium. Only a few spoke against the measure.
A growing movement
Second Amendment sanctuaries are largely symbolic, The Charlotte Observer reported when Lincoln, Surry and Wilkes counties in Western North Carolina declared themselves as such.
The state’s attorney in Effingham County, Illinois, is credited with first using the term when he declared Effingham a “sanctuary county” in 2018, according to The Trace, a non-profit media outlet covering gun-related news.
Now cities, towns and counties are using it to reject “the enforcement of state or federal gun laws perceived to violate the Second Amendment,” The Trace reported.
“Some are more general declarations in support of Second Amendment rights, while others specify how a community will withhold support for state or federal gun laws,” according to the media outlet.
Second Amendment sanctuaries have taken the Southeast by storm in the last year.
In Virginia — where legislators proposed more stringent gun safety measures — more than 100 cities and counties have passed resolutions, Blue Ridge Public Radio reported.
The legislation would in-part “limit handgun purchases, enable emergency confiscation petitions and expand background checks,” according to Newsweek. Virginia senators already passed legislation that implements universal background checks and allows firearms to be temporarily confiscated from owners “believed to be at risk of harming someone.”
Attempts at similar gun safety legislation in North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature have “languished,” according to N.C. Policy Watch.
Still, more than a dozen cities and counties have passed Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions — many in the last month.
McDowell County, sandwiched between Haywood and Buncombe counties, declared itself a Second Amendment sanctuary on Jan. 13, the McDowell News reported.
More than 1,300 residents have signed a Change.org petition pushing for something similar in Buncombe County.
Gaston County passed a resolution Tuesday, WBTV reported, as did Cabarrus County last week, according to ABC11.
As of Jan. 22, at least 20 counties in the state were identified as Second Amendment sanctuaries, according to Gun Rights Watch. More have “efforts underway” or already held hearings addressing it.
‘It’s really not going to change anything’
Commissioners in Haywood County haven’t been convinced.
Chairman Kevin Ensley started last week’s forum by ensuring residents he is a proponent of the Second Amendment and supporter of the Blue Ridge Friends of the NRA.
But he wasn’t sure signing a resolution would make an impact.
“We already support (the Second Amendment) — it’s really not going to change anything,” Ensley said. “The day we pass a resolution, nothing will be different than the day before.”
Commissioners Brandon Rogers and Tommy Long issued statements on their Facebook pages for reelection in favor of the resolution.
It was unclear Wednesday how the remaining two commissioners would vote, and no formal resolution has been proposed.
But the push for a resolution continues to gain momentum — close to 4,000 people have become members of the “Make Haywood County a Second Amendment Sanctuary” Facebook group.
“My sister was shot right between the eyes with a .45 — it (blew) her brains out,” Margaret Caldwell Cable said during the commissioner’s meeting, The Mountaineer reported. “You might think that I would be against guns. I own a gun. We’re asking to be a sanctuary, do you hear us?”
Natalie Henry-Howell said they can all agree on the importance of responsible gun ownership.
She told her son’s story during the meeting — how he was shot eight times by bullets in an extended magazine at the hands of someone diagnosed with developmental disabilities. The shooter’s grandfather told the Charlotte Observer he has Autism.
Tightening loopholes in background checks and access to firearms could have prevented that, she told McClatchy News.
“These things that we’re considering are just important. They’re important for the safety of us all,” Henry-Howell said during the meeting, according to video posted to YouTube. “I would really appreciate it if everybody could consider that as we try to balance the need for self-protection and the need for the protection of others.”
She told McClatchy it seems communities are becoming Second Amendment sanctuaries without considering how these gun safety measures protect people’s lives.
“If the reasoning behind the Second Amendment sanctuary is to skirt state and federal laws that are proposed or in place as gun safety measures to ensure responsible gun ownership and keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves and/or others — then no I don’t agree with that,” she said.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 6:59 PM.
