More than 'just following orders'

“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.”

— The Second Amendment

As office holders, State Sen. Ernie Chambers and Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer both took the oath of office to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, including the Second Amendment, as stated in its entirety above.

As you know, Chambers chastised Kramer and Grant County Sheriff Shawn Hebbert at a legislative hearing last month for supporting Senate File 451, which states that federal laws infringing on the right to bear arms would not be enforced in Nebraska, and those attempting to enforce those federal restrictions could be ticketed or arrested.

“I am shocked,” Chambers told Kramer and Hebbert, “I am shocked that a sheriff would come here and say federal law can be trumped by a (state) statute.”

We are shocked, however, by Sen. Chambers’ blind faith in whatever comes out of Washington, particularly when there has been talk of accomplishing gun control via presidential fiat, going around Congress entirely to infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Add to that the laws the government chooses not to enforce — immigration and marijuana laws come immediately to mind — and a degree of skepticism is warranted.

Can you blame Nebraskans for wanting to hold onto their right to own and use firearms? We can’t.

While Chambers sees an unquestioned duty to support the actions of the federal government, Kramer believes that it is his duty to support the Constitution. For Kramer, it is more complicated than blindly following the dictates of the federal government.

“He (Chambers) kept saying ‘how in the world do you have a state law that trumps a federal law,’” Kramer told us. “If it isn’t in accordance with the Constitution, it is not the supreme law of the land. I can’t ignore the local law, either.”

Count us with Kramer on this one. Defending the Constitution goes way beyond just doing whatever the federal government decrees. That is why we have a Supreme Court.

With regard to curbing gun violence, we heartily support efforts to keep firearms out of the hands of felons and the mentally deranged.

We believe that measures passed in Connecticut and Colorado in recent weeks (and being considered by Congress) to limit the size of ammunition magazines and ban certain firearms are misguided, and only rein in the law-abiding gun owner. Those who are willing to kill are obviously not going to be deterred by a law limiting the number of bullets in a magazine.

Given the number of firearms already in circulation, and the impossibility of confiscating firearms from the American people, efforts must be directed at spotting those who have criminal backgrounds, and those who are mentally ill, and keeping guns out of their hands, not the hands of the rest of us.

Furthermore, we believe that the movie and video game industries should take a long, hard look at some of the violent products they are churning out, and show some self-restraint.

This is a far more complicated problem than simply following orders from the federal government, and we applaud the sheriff for defending the Constitution.

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