Up North Progressive

As of this writing, our new ungerrymandered democratically elected state legislature is working hard to pass common-sense firearm legislation that will help keep people safe. The final bill package still needing the Governor’s signature is the extreme risk protection order or “red flag” law. This law would allow local law enforcement to remove firearms from a person’s home and express a desire to harm others using their guns.

Red flag laws are effective and have the approval of the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, these laws may not be enforced in some parts of the state. Many county sheriffs in the United States call themselves “constitutional” sheriffs, which they claim gives them the authority to ignore common sense gun legislation.

Constitutional sheriffs belong to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and this nationwide group has thousands of members. The CSPOA was founded by an Oath Keeper named Richard Mack, and Mack has affiliations with Posse Comitatus, The Christian Identity Movement, and the militia movement.

How do you know if your sheriff belongs to this club? The CSPOA does not publish a public list of members, but there are ways to find out. Some proudly announce they are members, and some like to wear CSPOA swag. Some of them even list their membership on their LinkedIn profile. Another way to find out is to check and see if your county adopted an unenforceable, legally nonbinding 2A sanctuary county resolution with the endorsement of the local county sheriff. Finally, did your county sheriff refuse to enforce state COVID guidelines during the pandemic? They are likely a member of the “posse.” There are even sheriff candidates who are already members of the CSPOA.

The fundamental belief of CSPOA posse members is that they are the highest law enforcement authority in the United States. Richard Mack borrowed this concept from Henry Lamont Beach. Beach was a white supremacist going back to the Silver Shirts days. He wrote a pamphlet known as the “Blue Book.” This book falsely claims the county sheriff has the authority to ignore any law he doesn’t want to enforce. The Blue Book also describes a posse of armed county citizens who can work in place of the sheriff and even make arrests. This is where the idea of “citizen militias” comes from. All “constitutional” sheriffs have a group of armed citizens working with them.

Richard Mack hasn’t been doing much with the CSPOA lately, focusing more on stealing money from the ivermectin pushers.

Michigan will have laws that effectively work to prevent mass shootings. However, those laws are only effective when enforced by state and local law enforcement. Constitutional sheriffs have had decades to entrench themselves into communities and convince local Democratic Parties to vote for them. The Democratic Party-controlled state government will need to address this problem if they want the new laws to be enforced everywhere in Michigan.