Are sheriffs using taxpayer money to trample taxpayer gun rights?

Where does your sheriff stand on gun rights?

By any standard, the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association (NCSA) has a checkered past: At various points, embezzlement, fund-raising abuses and lack of accountability for state-allocated money have all dominated the news. What NC gun owners – including NCSA donors – may not know, however, is that not just private donations but possibly even state grants are being used to lobby against gun rights.

What is unclear is the extent to which elected sheriffs represented by the group are aware of what is being advocated on their behalf.

NCSA DONATIONS INTO NCSA POCKETS

NCSA is a private group chartered to lobby for sheriffs which, until recently, was funded solely by soliciting private contributions. Even then, however, questions arose about what it did with the money. A WCNC NewsChannel 36 expose entitled, “Sheriffs' fundraising dollars paying for more fundraising” began thus:

“Every year hundreds of thousands of Carolinians get a letter from their local sheriff.

“The Sheriff asks for 25 bucks to join the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association.

“But where does the money go?

“It turns out the biggest chunk of the money – about half – goes to pay for more letters. And another hefty chunk of the proceeds pays the salary of only one employee.”

“… almost half the money, $12.15 out of every $25, goes to the cost of the fundraising, toward sending out more solicitation letters.”

And who is the beneficiary of much of that money? Eddie Caldwell, NCSA Executive Vice-President.

Says WCNC:

“According to the 2005 tax form filed by the NC Sheriffs’ Association, Inc., Caldwell drew a salary of $227,524 and a benefit plan valued at $22,311 for the year.”

Nor is Caldwell the first to treat the sheriffs’ association as his personal piggy bank. His 17-year predecessor, Donna Maynard, admitted to bouncing checks, fraudulently using association credit cards, forging financial reports and bilking the group for at least $281,000, demonstrating that, perhaps, the sheriffs need to start crime-fighting at home.

WHY SHOULD GUN OWNERS CARE?

During the same period, the previously pro-gun (and highly influential) group began endorsing a variety of gun control measures.

NCSA opposes gun shows
In 1999, with a fresh endorsement from our political action committee, the GRNC Political Victory Fund, in his pocket, NCSA legislative chairman David Huffman endorsed gun show bill HB 1275. The bill would have registered private guns sales with the FBI through the National Instant Check System, made most gun show promoters ineligible for required “gun show permits,” and subjected promoters to criminal prosecution for illegal sales made at shows despite their best efforts to prevent them. The bill died in committee. (Huffman paid the price when he later tried to run for Congress.)

NCSA opposes protecting domestic violence victims
HB 1311 was a revolutionary bill which responded to a string of homicides by domestic violence offenders who violated restraining orders by giving victims expedited access to concealed handgun permits. It was gutted and rendered largely symbolic, however, when according to the Raleigh News & Observer: “…the N.C. Sheriffs' Association objected that sheriffs would be denied case-by-case discretion.”

NCSA supports registering gun buyers w/ SBI
Two years ago, NCSA apparently supported HB 1287, but Caldwell backed away when called to the carpet. The bill would have registered gun purchase permit denials in a State Bureau of Investigation database. Under NC law, sheriffs have broad latitude in denying permits, including arbitrarily deciding an applicant has applied for “too many” purchase permits (one is required per purchase) or that the applicant is not of “good moral character.” Under HB 1287, any of these measures would have enshrined the applicant in the SBI database.

When our organization, Grass Roots North Carolina, put out alerts noting NCSA support, however, Caldwell denied all. Oddly, however, bill sponsor Representative Ronnie Sutton answered a query in a committee meeting on the bill by saying of the NCSA: “…they've been in support of it.”

Nor was Caldwell effective at expressing his “opposition” to the News & Observer, which reported: “Caldwell's group also favors a bill that passed the state House last week that would create a statewide database of pistol purchase permit denials …”

NCSA opposes repealing Jim Crow gun permit law
Just last week, Caldwell surprised gun rights supporters by reportedly having SB 782 pulled from the calendar of the committee about to hear it. If passed, the bill would repeal North Carolina’s archaic, Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit law – a law rendered redundant by computerized background checks, under which sheriffs have used arbitrary reasons to deny gun purchases.

YOUR MONEY USED AGAINST YOU?

What gun rights supporters should find most galling is the possibility their own tax money is being used against their interests. In a piece entitled “Money to sheriffs raises questions,” the News & Observer notes:

“The group got $750,000 in state money last year -- its first state funding -- on the promise that it would help North Carolina sheriff's offices begin ferreting out illegal immigrants. “

The problem is that nobody seems clear on exactly what was done with the money.

“Lawmakers say they thought the funding would help most of the state's sheriff's offices sign up for the federal 287(g) program, which allows deputies to check immigration status and begin deportation proceedings for illegal immigrants brought into county jails …

“…However, Wake is one of only three new North Carolina offices that have been accepted into the federal program in the past year, and officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement say they don't have the resources to enroll more. ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said no more will join the program in the near future.

“That came as a surprise to lawmakers.”

Although the money was channeled through the Governor’s Crime Commission, no oversight provisions were included:

“David Jones, the crime commission director, said most private groups must submit a grant application and then be reimbursed for expenses. In this case, he said, ‘all that passed was basically a blank check.’”

Nor was the association forthcoming on its expenditures:  “Caldwell declined to give a detailed accounting of how the state money has been spent,” says the N&O.

And if any of this bothered the NC House appropriations subcommittee that gave them the money, you wouldn’t know it by the reaction of committee chair Rep. Alice Bordsen (D-Alamance) since for the subsequent year’s funding, she increased it to $1 million.

TELL SHERIFFS WHAT YOU THINK

Less clear is how aware sheriffs are of Caldwell’s representation; cops, by and large, are not politicos. So using the links provided below, immediately take two actions:

• Contact your sheriff and ask him if he supports the gun control positions of the NCSA. Let him know that as a constituent of this elected official, you are unhappy with how NCSA is attacking your rights;
• Contact the NCSA and let them know you won’t be contributing a dime until they get back on board.
   

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