Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has declared that the second Amendment sanctuary city decrees of over 100 Virginia localities “have no force in law.”
Herring’s advisory opinion comes as the majority of Virginia’s 95 counties have declared themselves sanctuary jurisdictions from harsh and possibly unconstitutional gun control legislation currently making its way through the state legislature.
The bills, backed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, would outright ban the sale of many semi-automatic rifles and force current owners to register their weapons with the government.
Dailycaller.com reports: “Neither local governments nor local constitutional officers have the authority to declare state statutes unconstitutional or decline to follow them on that basis,” Herring wrote in the opinion. “Neither the Federal Constitution nor Virginia law recognizes any “anti-commandeering” principle that allows localities or local constitutional officers to refuse to participate in the enforcement of state law.”
Three Virginia counties — Arlington, Chesterfield, and Fairfax — are currently sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, flaunting federal immigration law.