Referendum Question 3 is a heavily out-of-state funded attack on the rights of law-abiding citizens which has received stark opposition from many Mainers, particularly in rural areas which have a strong connection to individual freedom. The “No on 3” campaign has brought a lot of freedom-loving Mainers together, educating and preparing them for the fight to preserve our rights against out-of-state oppressors.
Thirteen of Maine’s 16 county sheriffs have announced their opposition to Question 3 as well. This is not surprising since sheriffs have traditionally supported the will of the people because they are elected by the people of their area, not the affluent from other states.
Sheriffs are one of the few law enforcement officers around the world who are elected by the people rather than selected by bureaucrats. Our system is set up for the people by the people; therefore, everything builds upward rather than the power coming from the top down.
Many police officers have shown their close connection to the American people in the bravery and diligence they show when patrolling their neighborhoods. However, there is something to be said for sheriffs since they represent the people’s will through direct election. As honorable and respected as police officers are, the direct selection by the people that sheriffs enjoy is one thing police cannot share.
It is this difference of being selected by politicians, which explains why certain police chiefs and commissioners occasionally stand against the rights of the general public. Naturally, if the city council opposes the legitimate Second Amendment rights of the people, they will appoint police chiefs and commissioners who oppose the Second Amendment rights of the people. This is even evident in our own state where the Maine Chiefs of Police Association has gone against the sheriffs and the rights of the people by endorsing Question 3.
It shouldn’t be any surprise that a Maine police chief, appointed by a big city council, would call Question 3 “a common-sense proposal that will help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people.” It’s the same one-liner that the gun banners have been using across the country.
It also reveals the progressive belief that regular Americans with guns are automatically dangerous, a sign of big-city thinking, declaring the rural Americans as dangerous and unregulated when in fact they’re just exercising their freedom.
Even these big-government appointed officials recognize this referendum won’t actually work when they admit that “no law can prevent every crime;” still they insist it “will make Maine a safer place,” even though, as the Maine sheriffs point out, we are already “one of the safest states in the country.”
It goes over the heads of progressive bureaucrats that Maine is safe because her people are trustworthy and free to protect themselves with their Second Amendment rights. These men and women just can’t imagine anyone being better off without the same bureaucratic control which appointed them. They think the will of the people should be forgotten, and that you need them to govern you.
Fortunately, for all the chiefs and commissioners who are appointed to look away from our rights, there are many others who still believe in the rights which make this country great. Those who are peacefully protecting our rights just happen to speak softer than those actively fighting to strip us of them.
There are multitudes of individual police officers who support the American people because they walk the streets with them every day, and know and respect them. These officers, while generally silent beneath their higher up’s policies, are more numerous than can be imagined, and they will continue to stand with the American people because they are part of the American people.
As the Maine sheriffs say, Question 3 “will do nothing to stop evil people from getting their hands on guns,” while it “threatens to make law-abiding gun owners into criminals for simply loaning a firearm to a friend.” These officers know “there is no [shortage] of existing laws that regulate the sale, purchase and transfer of firearms,” and so this referendum question would be redundant, not to mention “unenforceable, confusing, [and] poorly written” while threatening the constitutionally protected rights of Mainers.
These sheriffs are making a stand against that which threatens the rights of the American people, just as sheriffs have stood against criminals since our country was founded.
Just as sheriffs once stood guard, alone over the vast frontier of the American continent, with only their fellow Americans to back them up, these Maine sheriffs once again make a stand for freedom. What better guardians of the people and the people’s rights than those selected by the people.
For Maine, these thirteen sheriffs shine brightly, both as public guardians and constitutional warriors.