”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.”

– Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

These words seem very straightforward to us, and we would imagine most Americans would concur. The highest court in our country ruled that this language conveys an individual right.

Unfortunately, there are very large and well-funded anti-gun organizations across our country that are doing all they can on a daily basis to chip away at this amendment and strip guns away from millions of law-abiding American citizens.

We’ve watched very liberal cities and states do all they can to try to weaken the Second Amendment by allowing gun-free and safe zones which have, in some cases, only provided target-rich environments. We’ve also seen cities like Chicago and others pass some of the strictest gun laws in the country and strip law-abiding citizens in these cities of their right to bear arms. As a result, these cities have some of the highest murder rates in the country. It’s worth noting that the high homicide rates are in liberal cities that have been run by Democratic politicians for decades and the majority of the guns used in these cities’ homicides aren’t bought legally.

We are and always have been a pro-Second Amendment newspaper, because we believe that all law-abiding citizens should have the right to bear arms without their right to do so being unreasonably infringed upon.

Thankfully, we live in a pro-gun state that has hundreds of thousands of hunters and target shooters who respect the Second Amendment and fight for it when it is threatened.

We want to keep it that way, which is why we are always supportive of any legitimate pro-gun group that tries to protect our citizens’ rights.

One such group that we believe is legitimate and is looking out for our state’s gun owners is Kentucky United. The group, which has 78,000 members, is working with all 120 counties in the state to be prepared for a preemptive strike against any gun-control legislation that might be considered in the Kentucky General Assembly.

Fueled by fears that Kentucky lawmakers could follow the example of Virginia and propose laws perceived as restricting gun owners’ rights, Kentucky United has mounted a campaign to have all 120 Kentucky counties pass resolutions declaring themselves “Second Amendment Sanctuaries.”

Their efforts seem to be paying off, with Simpson Fiscal Court passing a declaration Tuesday that would urge state and federal lawmakers not to pass laws that would infringe on the Second Amendment. Warren Fiscal Court passed a declaration Friday. Logan County is reviewing a sanctuary resolution that is expected to come before the fiscal court at its meeting Tuesday. This says a lot that Simpson County and our county, the third-largest county in the state, support the Second Amendment and stand firmly against any proposed laws to restrict people’s right to bear arms.

While we know that these declarations are largely symbolic, we do believe they have the potential to carry a lot of weight with state legislators which can be nothing but helpful to the gun owners in our state.

Anything that can be done to help protect our gun rights such as this group is doing, along with the counties, is something we absolutely support. We wish them the best in their goal to enlist support in all of Kentucky’s counties.