LIVINGSTON COUNTY, Mich. (WLNS) – A community is debating whether new gun laws are worth the time.
“If the laws pass in their current state, my office will not enforce red flag laws, it’s just that simple,” said Livingston County Sheriff Michael J. Murphy.
Murphy is skeptic when it comes to new gun laws being pushed through the Michigan legislature.
A week and a half ago, the Livingston County Board of commissioners reaffirmed it’s stance on being a “sanctuary county,” meaning they “encourage” and “respect the right to bear arms.”
“They can pass the resolution saying what their position is however, they cannot direct my men and women or my office on what to do,” said Murphy.
He has expressed his concern with the boards overreach but didn’t entirely disagree with their ideals.
“One of the comments that I made was that I was not going to enforce any red flag laws, because I thought they were unconstitutional. And that’s what seemed to get everybody fired up,” said Murphy.
He said, as the laws are stated, they are “ripe for abuse” and cited when personal protection orders were first introduced in the state.
“We had judges that would sign PPOs you know on the spot without even really looking at them a lot of times,” the Sheriff said.
He says we could see a similar trend with red flag laws.
The sheriffs office has the “right to discretion” and the people of the county decide what his department will do.
“The 200,000 people in this county, not all of them of course, but the majority of them don’t want our resources spent enforcing things that are going to end up being unconstitutional.”
