An ordinance to declare the Kenai Peninsula Borough as a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” is set to be introduced by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly at their next meeting on Tuesday, June 2.
One of the ordinance sponsors, Assembly member Jesse Bjorkman: “This is just an affirmation and a confirmation that the Assembly agrees with, and supports, the right to bear arms for individual citizens of the Kenai peninsula. We just want to reassert and make sure that folks are aware that the Kenai peninsula is a gun-friendly community. We believe that a polite society is an armed society.”
He goes on to say that this effort is a matter of protecting a right gifted by a higher power: “The individual right that was given to us by God, not by any individual or government, is one that we believe is worth protecting and defending to maintain our freedoms and to maintain our way of life here in Alaska.”
The ordinance, 2020-29, quotes the U.S. Constitution’s protections of the right of Americans to own firearms. It does not exclusively refer to legal precedent. Rather, it goes on to interpolate legal protection of Kenai firearms with allusions to economic benefits seen on the Kenai attributed to firearms by the ordinance.
What would the designation of Second Amendment Sanctuary mean, if passed? According to the ordinance, it means that the borough would be committed to never using funds, resources, employees, buildings, or offices to impede on borough residents’ ability to keep and bear arms.
A hearing on the matter will take place on Tuesday, June 16.