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DAYTON–The Columbia County Commissioners (BOCC) approved Resolution 2021-20, Acknowledging the Supremacy of the Constitution, passed during the May 10 work session.

The Resolution's purpose is, "Acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States of America and affirming the fundamental rights of Columbia County Citizens' right to free speech and peaceable assembly, to keep and bear arms, and maintain essential liberties and freedoms protected in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution."

The Commissioners are taking a stand through this Resolution "to oppose federal and state restrictions of Second Amendment and other rights guaranteed under the U.S. and State Constitutions." This is because "recently proposed legislation and executive orders from the president of the United States and Congress, and the executive and legislative branches of the State of Washington, have sought to limit or eliminate certain traditionally held rights of the people guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States; and the Columbia County Board of Commissioners finds these legislative and executive efforts to be contrary to the intent and purpose of the Bill of Rights, particularly under the First and Second Amendments."

A resolution, just like this one, was passed in April by the Franklin County Commissioners. Commissioner Charles Amerein made a suggestion at the April 26 meeting to the other commissioners that Columbia County follow suit. In the discussion about considering the resolution, Commissioner Ryan Rundell, who owns Rundell Arms, LLC and is a licensed gun and firearm dealer, said, "The danger of going into 'We're not going to enforce...' which I would agree with in premise but in reality, gun dealers, for example, I know something about it, are going to be the ones to suffer that rather than anyone else. You can say that we're not going to enforce any laws but then the State gets wind of that–that this county does that and guess who gets audited almost immediately? Every single gun dealer. They're following the County's lead and going through all the hoops and they get shutdown. Then you just have no gun dealers in the County. I'm okay with the statements as long as they are just statements."

"It lets people know where we stand...It's making a statement...We're basically a rubber stamp here in some aspects," Amerein affirmed, "All we can do is make our voice heard. This is how we as elected representatives–these people feel about this situation."

According to the Commissioners, the Resolution has the support of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department.