Gun Love in Escambia

Tomorrow, Escambia County Commissioner Wilson Robertson will ask his fellow commissioners to adopt a resolution supporting the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“I’m doing it to state that Escambia County—if I can get the votes—wants to take a stand that we oppose further restrictions of any kind,” Robertson said last week.
The commissioner’s proposed resolution comes on the heels of a similar stance taken by the Santa Rosa County Commission. It affirms Escambia’s support of citizens’ right to bear arms.

The Panhandle posturing comes in the midst of a national debate on gun-rights and proposed gun-legislation. The region took a similar stance in 1994, when the former assault-weapons ban was passed.

“It’s not a problem with guns,” Robertson said. “It’s a problem with who has the guns.”

Second Amendment supporters recently held a rally in front of the Santa Rosa County administrative offices. A similar rally is scheduled for this weekend on downtown Pensacola’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza. Robertson plans to speak at the event.

“I’m gonna try to tell the federal government and state and anybody who’ll listen,” the commissioner said. “—tell the federal government don’t change anything that our Founding Fathers put in the Constitution.”

Tomorrow’s county commission meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. The meeting follows a 4:30 p.m. public forum and 1:45 p.m. agenda work session. Meetings are held at the Magaha Government Building downtown.

As the commissioner’s mull the resolution tomorrow, this week’s IN will be hitting the street. The issue’s cover story, “Gun Crazy, Grappling with America’s Obsession,” explores the current gun conversation.