Fremont County is now a Second Amendment sanctuary county.

The Fremont County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a resolution declaring the status.

Board Chair Dwayne McFall spearheaded the initiative that addresses HB19-1177, “Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” also referred to as a “Red Flag” bill, stating that the proposed bill does away with due process and violates the Second Amendment.

The board’s resolution pledges its support for the county sheriff to not enforce any unconstitutional firearms law against any citizen and states that it “will not authorize or appropriate government funds, resources, employees, agencies, contractors, buildings, detention centers or offices for the purpose of enforcing law that unconstitutionally infringes on the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

The bill would allow law enforcement, a family member or a household member to ask a judge to temporarily remove firearms from owners believed to have a high risk of harming themselves or others. The judge would hold a hearing to decide whether to grant that order for up to 14 days.

During those two weeks, all the parties would have to appear before the judge, who would then determine whether the firearms should be kept for up to 364 days.

The respondent would be able to motion the court once during the 364-day extreme risk protection order for a hearing to terminate the order.

Fremont County Sheriff Allen Cooper said he and his staff have reviewed the proposed bill, and it is their opinion that it does not offer due process to anyone who is targeted with an accusation of being mentally incompetent or dangerous and that the redress for someone who is falsely accused does not exist.

“I can not support this bill as it currently is written,” he said.

Cooper said the bill would be another unfunded mandate that would make law enforcement responsible for not only the collection of firearms, but also for the storage of personal property that is not evidence.

Cooper said he would support a similar, revised bill, but it would have to be one which does not infringe upon people’s rights.

“We do need something in place to deal with people who have mental health issues,” he said. “My perception is we are very, very quick to pass laws that have a ripple effect far outside the scope of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

He said he is concerned about people being falsely accused and then running into a whole host of problems.

“If that person is subsequently found to be innocent, we don’t get in a hurry to really push that agenda forward and deal appropriately with their property, deal appropriately with their loss,” Cooper said.

He said mental health issues shouldn’t be legislated through the law enforcement branch of government, because it’s not effective.

“We’ve taken funds away from our mental health clinicians, from the entire process, and now we are paying for that,” he said. “Mental health is a big issue in the detention facility, that’s not the ideal place for treatment.”

However, he currently is working with other agencies to see what can be done in a detention setting to deal with mental health issues.

The County Sheriffs of Colorado has taken a neutral position on the proposed bill because the sheriffs are split as a group, Cooper said.

“We have sheriffs who support this bill, we have sheriffs who oppose this bill,” he said. “I’m kind of in a position where I can see both sides of this — do we need to do something? Absolutely. But I don’t want to do it at the expense of trampling on people’s rights. The Fourth Amendment is the only thing that protects the American citizen from tyranny.”

Commissioners Tim Payne and Debbie Bell shared their thoughts on the resolution during Tuesday’s meeting.

“What bothers me the most on this is the Fourth Amendment to the Bill of Rights, the due process and probable cause,” Payne said. “That has been in place for 200 years and it’s served us well. For this to be intact, this bothers me.”

Bell said the proposed bill should “deeply disturb” residents and citizens.

“We all feel as though a right is being taken away, so Fremont County has no interest whatsoever in participating in that,” she said. “That’s why we are taking the action that we are taking today.”

In 2018, a similar piece of legislation failed to pass out of a Republican-controlled Senate. This year, however, Democrats hold the majority in both chambers, and the bill passed out of committee on a party-line vote.

The House committee amended the bill Feb. 21 to require law enforcement to return a person’s firearms within three days after an order terminates and in the “same condition.”

The bill is slated to go before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday.

In other business, the board also took the following action:

— Approved a liquor license renewal/late fee waiver request for $100 for Prospector RV Park.

— Approved a Fremont County Airport land lease and landing area lease with JustinTime Cargo LLC.

— Approved the renewal of an Optional Premises Cultivation license for Fremont County Cannabis.

— Approved the renewal of an Optional Premises Cultivation license Green Source.

Carie Canterbury: 719-276-7643, canterburyc@canoncitydailyrecord.com