Attorney General Jay Jones, by state law the chief legal officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia, is advising local law enforcement agencies in the state that the new gun laws that went into effect on July 1 “remain in force” in localities not covered by the two local circuit court injunctions handed down last month.
That means that the laws, per the chief legal officer of the Commonwealth, are still in effect in 126 of the state’s 132 localities – including Augusta County.
Yes, including Augusta County, where the sheriff, Donald Smith can pretend, for political reasons, that he has the legal and constitutional power to declare that he won’t enforce the laws within the boundaries of the locality that he was elected to represent.
ICYMI
- Augusta County sheriff goes rogue, declares he won’t enforce new gun laws
- Augusta County: Ways our citizens can hold our law-breaking sheriff accountable
- Augusta County sheriff edict is open invitation to illegal gun traffickers
But that’s all he’s doing – pretending.
Donald Smith is bound by laws, even those that he doesn’t like, same as you and me.
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We are a nation of laws.
You’ve heard MAGAs like Donald Smith say this forever.
We are a nation of laws.
OK, well, the way our nation of laws works, then: starting at the top, we have a U.S. Constitution that spells out how our government does what it does, and our rights as citizens.
The U.S. Constitution dictates governance at the federal level, and the Bill of Rights lists areas where the federal government and state governments cannot encroach on our rights.
At the various state levels, there are state constitutions.
We have one in Virginia, of course.
In Virginia, as at the federal level, and in other states, our Constitution gives the General Assembly the power to make law; the governor is established as the head of the executive branch, the word “executive” meaning, the governor heads up the part of the state government that executes law.
The attorney general, as the chief legal officer, is given power under the Code of Virginia to legal advice to the governor, the General Assembly and local government officials on interpretations of state law.
Our state Constitution then also allows local residents to vote for a local sheriff.
This sheriff, under Virginia law, is called on to enforce the laws of the Code of Virginia.
Plain English: this is from Virginia Code §15.2-1609. Sheriff.
The sheriff shall exercise all the powers conferred and perform all the duties imposed upon sheriffs by general law. He shall enforce the law or see that it is enforced in the locality from which he is elected.
There’s no wiggle room there – nothing in the code that says:
The sheriff gets to decide to enforce laws based on his singular interpretation of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Virginia.
The job of an elected sheriff, under the Code of Virginia, is not to interpret the law.
Donald Smith, as the elected Augusta County sheriff, is the chief executive of our state.
He is not the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
He is an elected local law enforcement officer.
Whose job is to enforce the laws enacted by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor.
That’s it.
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The people of the Commonwealth of Virginia elected a House of Delegates, a State Senate, a governor, and by the process laid down by our state Constitution and Code of Virginia, those folks enacted laws.
Donald Smith isn’t required to like the laws; you don’t have to like them, I don’t have to like them.
But they are the laws of our land – and if you or I act in violation of them, we need to be held accountable; otherwise, laws have no effect, and we descend into tyranny.
Similarly here, if an elected sheriff acts in violation of the law, he needs to be held accountable.
No one else seems to be interested in holding him accountable, so, here we are.
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Chris Graham
