The Insurrectionist Sheriff
It turns out that the Sheriff of Roseburg, Oregon is also as Sandy Hook truther.
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress unpacks the letter the Sheriff of Roseburg Oregon, a gun proliferation activist, sent to Vice President Joe Biden in the wake of the Newtown massacre of 20 tiny 6 year olds. He goes over the language of the letter, which echoes Oath Keeper rhetoric, and then notes:
Hanlin’s letter also blurs the line between a matter that is lawfully within state officials’ discretion and something much more akin to insurrection. Under the Supreme Court’s “anti-commandeering doctrine,” states may refuse to enforce federal laws that they do not wish to devote their resources to enforcing. For this reason, provided that state law gives him the discretion to do so, Hanlin is permitted to deny his department’s resources to federal officials seeking to enforce federal gun laws.
What Hanlin may not do, however, is unilaterally assign himself the power to decide what is or is not constitutional and then refuse to “permit the enforcement” of federal laws by “federal officers within the borders of Douglas County Oregon.” This rule stretches back at least as far as the late nineteenth century, when California charged a United States Marshal with murder after the marshal shot and killed a man who threatened the life of a sitting supreme court justice.
More: Hullabaloo