Both Weber County Sheriff Terry Thompson, and Box Elder County Sheriff J. Lynn Yeates were part of, or fully supported a letter from the Utah Sheriff’s Association(28 of 29 County Sheriffs in agreement) to President Obama declaring their firm determination to keep their “…oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States,...” On January 31st, Sheriff Yeates said that all but one person he had talked to, agreed with his support of the letter.
In January Sheriff Terry Thompson said: They are not declaring war. But, he says speaking for the Sheriff’s association that they will uphold, defend and support the Constitution, and yes their lives are on the line. (Of course they are always more or less in harm’s way, and put their lives on the line in defense of us and our rights.) He says he has taken an oath and that “We (the Sheriff’s association) take our oaths seriously.” He says that: “Being an elected official, I have a duty and obligation” to perform my oath. He says that he will “Do the right thing”. He feels like the Sheriffs are a check and a balance against tyrannical, unconstitutional actions. Colorado and New Mexico Sheriffs associations have also written or stated the same things.
The letter has attracted attention around the country. Pat Larkin from Washington State, who read this letter said: “Wow! What a letter!”
On February 12th, Sheriff Thompson cautioned against reading too much into the letter, and wanted everyone to know that the Sheriff’s office has posted a letter of clarification on the County Sheriff’s website which is excerpted here with most of the first paragraph cited.
“Utah Sheriff’s Association Letter – Clarification (Summit Co. Sheriff Dave Edmunds contributing) At no point does our letter insinuate that the executive orders issued by President Obama are unconstitutional. Moreover, it should be noted that state peace officers are under no obligation to enforce presidential executive orders — those are directed to executive officials under the president’s direct command. It should also be noted that the United States Supreme Court (USSC) has ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. All we did was affirm our duty to protect the Constitution. It just so happens that our position is consistent with the Court’s recent rulings on the Second Amendment…”
Local people commented on the letter and their rights to defend themselves. Representative Lee Perry, a resident of Perry, says he agrees with the letter. John Reynolds, of Pleasant View, says regarding the executive orders, “Generally they don’t help us.” He says that those who advocate getting rid of guns are “tackling the wrong end of the problem.” He says the human factor is the most important, and describes a comparison with Switzerland. He says of Switzerland, ”All adult men are trained to use a gun to defend themselves and the country has a very high per capita number of automatic rifles, yet their homicide rate is one of the lowest in the world. Switzerland, a country of 8 million has fewer than 50 murders a year compared to Chicago (population 2.7 million), which had 500 murders in 2012. The source of this information is National Review magazine, Feb. 11 issue.” See “an article on page 24 ‘Armed Not Dangerous’ by Kevin D. Williamson.” Mr. Reynolds emphasizes that they (the Swiss), “don’t go around killing each other.”
