Notice that she understands that "State", as in "free state" is not, and was not, originally capitalized. It refers to a state of being, not a government entity.

I was elected by the citizens of Nye County, both Democrats and Republicans, to serve as their Sheriff. This is my second term. The citizens of Nye County elected me to protect them from criminals and provide a safe environment for them to live and raise their families. I have always taken this responsibility very seriously.

Over the last forty-four years I have taken an oath many times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Nevada. I did this as a law enforcement officer and as the Nye County Sheriff. I do not now, nor have I ever, taken my oath lightly. I am a life member of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association.

For me, this gun legislation is a political statement and as such is in direct conflict with the Second Amendment's delineated rights, "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." In addition, the Marbury vs. Madison decision concluded that "All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution (the Constitution of the United States of America) are null and void."

History seems to be repeating itself in the United States; in Germany prior to WWII we saw Hitler place restrictions on the public's right to bear arms, then we stood by and watched him seize the firearms from his citizens, placing them "under the protection of the state." Today, we see politicians use the death of innocent victims to advocate for laws that prevent the non-criminal, law abiding citizens of our communities, from transferring firearms between individuals without a background check, limit the types of firearms they buy and regulate the capacity or type of magazines for the firearms they own.

The term criminal defines the fact that the person committing crimes is not law abiding. The fact that there is rhetoric to enact new laws each and every time a criminal commits a bizarre crime or does something heinous amazes me. These new laws penalize our law-abiding citizens. The person who committed the crime did not respect our laws in the first place, so how does passing new more restrictive laws which our citizens must obey, help make things better? As a law enforcement officer, District Attorney Investigator, and now Sheriff, I have had dozens of opportunities to put real criminals behind bars, but because of politics, inadequate staffing or a lack of desire or funding, these individuals are allowed to plead to a lesser crime, are placed into diversion programs, win their cases on a technicality, and in a few instances, are not prosecuted appropriately.

Our staff is thin, our budgets are limited, and our responsibilities are laced with state mandated unfunded programs; we struggle to enforce the laws that exist. By signing this Bill into law does nothing but make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to transfer ownership of weapons, place an additional burden on law enforcement, and encourages citizens to "turn in" their family members, neighbors, friends and acquaintances. These incidents, for the most part, will become "he said she said" unprovable cases which will increase our work load. The majority of people are not the criminals we need funding to focus on; criminals will transfer, buy, sell guns regardless of laws. These are the people paying for the enforcement of these new laws through taxation. Even if I were inclined to participate, the infrastructure is not in place to transfer firearms in this manner, the ATF is an integral part of the transfer process and, as far as I know, has declined to participate.

As Sheriff of Nye County, I agree with Sheriff Watts, I will not participate in the enforcement of this new law and certainly won't stand silent, while my citizens are turned into criminals due to the unconstitutional actions of misguided politicians.

Respectfully,

Sharon Wehrly, Sheriff