Richard Mack, who formed the CSPOA in 2011 with a promise to persuade local governments to issue declarations to the federal government “regarding the abuses we will no longer tolerate,” has repeatedly declined to publish or provide a list of the sheriffs he says are backers or members of the CSPOA. Although media outlets have reported that he claims more than 400 supporters or members, Mack told the Report that the CSPOA had only “trained” that number of sheriffs.

He said the focus of his group was not on recruiting members but on persuading sheriffs to adopt the group’s positions. But he also claimed the CSPOA has “about 5,000 members,” including sheriffs, police chiefs, peace officers and other citizens. He said he didn’t know how many of those were sheriffs, but noted that the CSPOA is now making a major effort to run sheriff’s candidates.

In 2014, however, the CSPOA did publish a list (since taken down) of 485 sheriffs who, in the group’s words, “have vowed to uphold and defend the Constitution against Obama’s unconstitutional gun measures.” Although that is not the same thing as being CSPOA supporters or members, the number of 485 is notably similar to the number of CSPOA trainees claimed by Mack.

The Report worked in May and June to contact all the sheriffs listed to get a sense of their support for the CSPOA and its policies. A small percentage of those men and women had retired, died or lost bids for reelection. A much larger percentage failed to respond to phone calls or emailed questionnaires.

In the end, the Report spoke to about 50 sheriffs.

The sampling was not large enough to come to any definitive conclusions. But it almost certainly understates the level of radicalism among the nation’s sheriffs. That is partly because many of those most sympathetic to Mack were likely among the 400 or so sheriffs who declined to answer queries from the Report, which has published articles that were critical of Mack and the CSPOA in the past.

Fifteen of the sheriffs reached by the Report described themselves as present or former members or supporters of the CSPOA. Seven said that they had written letters or made statements in conjunction with the organization. And seven said they were likely to resist federal authorities trying to impose new gun controls.



Cameron Noel (UtahSheriffs.net)

Beaver County, Utah, Sheriff Cameron Noel said he believed that he could keep federal officials out of his county or at least demand that they seek his permission. Sheriffs, he said, are a last line of defense against federal tyranny.

“I am the only elected official in my county that performs law enforcement functions,” he said. “The federal government, the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], the Forest Service, the FBI, the DEA, any of those guys, they’re not elected. … Those other entities, they answer to me. If they want to come in here and perform functions, I’m not saying that I’m always going to prevent them from doing that. I work hand in hand with the federal government on a lot of different issues and things, but they’re going to check with me before they do anything.”



Oddie Shoupe (WhiteCoSherriff.org)

Oddie Shoupe, the sheriff of White County, Tenn., said that he would fight the federal government, if it came down to it, and that any attempt to seize guns in his jurisdiction would result in “war.” He said he didn’t oppose citizen militias, so long as they reported to him, and added that if further federal gun control came to his county, he would deputize every militia member he had to resist.



Ronald Bruce (HindsdaleSheriff.com)

In Colorado, Hinsdale County Sheriff Ronald Bruce said he would order any federal agency trying to seize guns from his constituents to leave, unless they were being taken from a convicted felon or someone else who had lost the legal right to possess weapons. “But if it’s somebody that I can see no discernible reason for their firearms to be seized except that the federal government is overreaching, then I will stand shoulder to shoulder with my constituents and fight that,” Bruce told the Report. “So if it means resisting with force, then we’ll resist with force.”

Churchill County, Nev., Sheriff Benjamin Trotter was more moderate, saying that he found the CSPOA “maybe a little too far to the right” and adding that if new federal gun control laws came down, he would challenge them in court. But if such attempts failed, “I’m a man of my word and the Constitution is what it is. It doesn’t mince any words on the Second Amendment. If they [the government] decided to do the brute force tactic, I’d probably end up in federal prison or dead.”

In Texas, Angelina County Sheriff Greg Sanches said he would accept gun control if it were accomplished by a constitutional amendment that was upheld by the Supreme Court. Absent that, however, “If the federal government comes in here trying to violate the constitutional freedoms of my constituents, of course I’m going to stand up for the people. If they came in for the guns, I’d stand up.”

Hamblen County, Tenn., Sheriff Esco Jarnagin, said he only supported the original Constitution, without amendments, and said it “has been abused, stepped on, rewrote, taken away, added on.” If federal authorities came to enforce new gun controls, he said, “just to be pointblank, there would be a showdown, because I believe the citizens of this county have the right to protect themselves. If you come in here trying to take up the guns, it’s not going to be a nice day for somebody.”

That’s only the start. Scores of sheriffs around the country who did not speak to the Report have been quoted in the media making similar statements. According to High Country News, for instance, Montezuma County, Colo., Sheriff Dennis Spruell appeared on the white nationalist radio show, “The Political Cesspool,” and threatened to arrest federal officials who closed roads on public lands.

This June, California officials were in Siskiyou County monitoring polling places on primary election day after reports that Hmongs, members of an Asian ethnic group, were facing voting intimidation led by Sheriff Jon Lopey. According to the online news outlet Raw Story, Lopey, a former CSPOA board member, set up a checkpoint and deputies allegedly stopped only cars driven by Hmongs. A Hmong leader also told the Redding Searchlight that officials carrying assault rifles went to Hmong homes and threatened to arrest people who tried to vote illegally. Lopey, who renounced his membership with CSPOA over what he said were the organization’s increasingly “extreme positions” on the Constitution and federal government, denied those allegations. “No one was threatened, and I would never condone discrimination against any person or group,” Lopey said.

And in 2013, 28 of the 29 sheriffs who make up the Utah Sheriffs’ Association wrote President Obama, concluding with this: “No federal official will be permitted to descend upon our constituents and take from them what the Bill of Rights — in particular Amendment II — has given them. We, like you, swore a solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and we are prepared to trade our lives for the preservation of its traditional interpretation.”