Eternal vigilance is the price we pay to maintain, support, and defend our basic Constitutional rights and freedom

In Tom Howarth’s recent opinion letter, he pointed out that if the Governor of Virginia issues an edict, it appears that we do not have the choice nor legal standing to ignore it. It appears from his letter that he did not nor does not approve of Warren County (or any other County in the Commonwealth which adopted a “sanctuary” resolution) being a sanctuary jurisdiction regarding the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment as it pertains to the right of citizens to keep and bear arms.

I point out to Mr. Howarth that if the Governor or any other appointed or elected official, who has taken an oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution or any Commonwealth or State Constitution, and then issues edicts or dictats which are in opposition to those documents and in fact infringes on the rights of those citizens, then those edicts or dictats have been issued illegally and are null and void. Such edicts and dictats would have to be submitted to a review by a judge or panel of judges to determine if, in fact, those edicts and dictats are in violation of those governing documents.

In the case of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and to the provisions of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, where a governor or other duly elected or appointed official has ordered that firearms purchased and/or owned by the citizens are to be confiscated or otherwise removed, in violation of the above-named documents, those orders are deemed to be unconstitutional and have no basis of law. The citizens, in exercising their Constitutional rights, can ignore those edicts and dictats, and the elected or appointed officials who have taken the oath of office may just the same refuse to enforce those edicts and dictats. Elected and appointed officials do not have the legal power to subvert the provisions of those documents, and cannot act against the citizens for disregarding the edicts and dictats.

In some recent cases, regarding the current public health emergency, it has been proven in courts of law that the governors of several states have, in fact, exceeded their authority in issuing executive orders, edicts, and dictats; that these actions on the part of the governors have infringed on the Constitutional and civil rights of the citizens of those states. We know now that many of the governors and mayors and other elected and appointed officials have chosen to use the current public health emergency as the excuse and conduit by which their authority can be and has been illegally expanded beyond the point of infringing of the rights of citizens mandated by law.

We have also witnessed many cases where elected and appointed public officials have issued edicts and dictats governing how citizens are to conduct themselves in the current public health emergency, and then in fact these officials have disregarded and violated their own edicts and dictats, and have gotten caught on camera. They seem to think a simple apology will make things all better, when in fact citizens have been subjected to criminal and civil penalties for the same violations. “Rules for thee but not for me.”

Eternal vigilance is the price we pay to maintain, support, and defend our basic Constitutional rights and freedom. Too many American patriots have paid the price in blood and in service to maintain this vigilance over the past 246 years.

Arthur Candenquist
Amissville, VA