In December 2012, a madman murdered 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. First, he murdered his mother in order to steal her guns. The Left wasted no time in calling for all manner of anti-gun legislation to “do something” about the problem, despite the fact that everything the murderer did that day was already illegal. Congress, fortunately, ended up doing nothing, leaving states to enact their own laws. Some, such as Colorado and New York, acted on their emotional panic by passing tyrannical and draconian laws banning standard-capacity magazines for guns and other such nonsensical and unconstitutional restrictions.

The good news is that executing the law is at least partially left to sheriffs, and quite a few are declining to enforce these horrible gun laws. In fact, reports The New York Times, “All but seven of the 62 elected sheriffs in Colorado signed on in May to a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the statutes.” Even those who declined to join the suit admitted that enforcement will be a “very low priority” because enforcement would be a nightmare. Sheriff John Cooke asked a crowd to distinguish between a magazine bought before the ban and one bought after the ban. (Hint: They look exactly alike.) Politically, two Colorado Democrats were recalled for their votes, and a third resigned rather than face the same fate.

In New York, two sheriffs publicly opposed the state’s new laws, which Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned would set “a dangerous and frightening precedent.” We can understand why Democrats would find following the Constitution “dangerous and frightening,” but as for ignoring laws, the president himself set the precedent and the bar is low – political inconvenience is sufficient reason for him. At least these sheriffs have legitimate constitutional objections.