MUINISING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Alger County Board of Commissioners on Monday voted to pass two Second Amendment resolutions. The resolutions declare that the Upper Peninsula’s Alger County is a constitutional Second Amendment sanctuary county and instructs representatives to oppose all unconstitutional gun control legislation. These votes come on the heels of Michigan Democrats in the House and Senate passing new gun control legislation including background checks and safe storage of firearms – and promising more to come.

Upper Michigan News Source has reported that after the resolutions passed, there were mixed responses from the public.

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One Alger County resident who opposed the resolutions said, “I’m very disappointed that you would even consider allowing any person to run around Munising, Trenary, in the schools, out of the schools, in the churches to carry an AR-15.”

Another resident who was in favor of the resolutions said, “Most of Alger County residents that carry, left or right, and some didn’t they were busy, showed support for those resolutions. So, for the two gun control resolutions I thank each and every person that voted in favor of them.”

According to the Munising Beacon, the first resolution, 2023-07, titled “Resolution to Instruct our Representatives to Oppose All Firearms Control Legislation “relies heavily on the U.S. and Michigan constitutions, citing both document’s preambles, the U.S. Ninth Amendment of retaining rights not specifically written into the Constitution, and Michigan’s Article 1, Section 3, which talks about instructing representatives.”

They go on to say “It resolves that the Alger County Commission instructs the 102nd Michigan State Legislature to vote against all laws that would ‘unconstitutionally infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms,’ against laws that would limit firearm modifications or ammunition types, and against Red Flag laws.”

The second resolution, 2023-08, is titled “Resolution Declaring Alger County a Constitutional Second Amendment Sanctuary County.” The Munising Beacon reports that “The second resolution cites U.S. Supreme Court decisions of District of Columbia v Heller, McDonald v Chicago and United States v Miller, three cases that protected individual firearm rights in regard to the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.”

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They continue, “The promise proposed by this resolution actively challenges long-standing procedures of the county and the state by directing the Alger County Sheriff and Prosecutor to not enforce any unconstitutional laws. It also promises that the County Commission would ‘not authorize or appropriate funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, building, detention centers or offices’ for the purposes of enforcing unconstitutional gun laws.”

Bridge Michigan reports “The resolutions are not legally binding since county commissioners can’t direct sheriffs or judges on what laws to enforce. But they signal a reluctance, if not refusal, to enforce state or federal gun regulations that local authorities consider a violation of the Second Amendment.”

Initially in March when the two resolutions were brought up at the county meeting, Alger County Sheriff Todd Brock said, “We support the Second Amendment, but there’s language in that resolution that could hang us out to dry. I’m not comfortable with this in any shape or form until (Alger County Prosecutor Rob Steinhoff and I) can discuss this more.”

It was reported that neither the Sheriff nor the prosecutor were told about the resolutions until the day of the meeting and it led to a short argument between two commissioners over board policy on introducing topics on the agenda. Because of that, the resolutions were tabled at that meeting.

Michigan News Source reached out to the Sheriff and Prosecutor for comment on the passage of the resolutions but they did not immediately return a request for comment.

Bridge Michigan has also reported that Alger County isn’t the only county looking to protect themselves from unconstitutional and over-reaching gun control efforts. Of the state’s 83 counties, at least 53 of them, in mostly rural counties, have adopted some sort of resolution to declare themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries or to “explicitly support constitutional rights including the right to bear arms.”