'It's not guns that hurt people'

On Wednesday the U.S. Senate voted down a vital amendment in the gun bill – the expansion of background checks on gun buyers.

Amendments regarding the purchasing of assault rifles and high capacity magazine clips also failed to pass.

“All and all this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” was President Obama’s response at a White House press conference following the decision.

While some cities and states are looking into stricter gun policies, a few are taking the opposite approach: debating plans to place guns in more homes.

Though in the past some cities have done the same, one small Georgia town--Newton--recently adopted a new law requiring residents to own a gun and ammunition, according to CBS news affiliates.

Council members approved the Newton city ordinance April 1 and backers of the new law told CBS reporters that they were in fact trying to prove a point.

City Councilman Duane Cronic told them, “I likened it to a security sign that people put up in their front yards. Some people have security systems, some people don’t, but they put those signs up.”

Cheyenne County Sheriff John Jenson used Switzerland as a prime example of a protected country.

“Look at across the seas,” he said. “There are countries over there that don’t have weapons. They have banned all guns and their crime rate is atrocious.

“There is a country--I believe it is Switzerland--and everybody has a gun and they have the lowest crime rate in the world,” he continued. “I wonder why that is? I think wholeheartedly Nebraska is a gun supporting state.

“Of all the places that we have had mass shootings they’re in places where no guns are allowed – they are in a no gun zone. Why don’t these criminals that have these assault rifles come to where there are guns?” Jenson asked.

Jenson said that although he is not exactly a proponent of making it law that everyone must own a gun, he said that a gun may help prevent a household from danger.

“I’m not sticking up for right or left wing – it’s just common sense says if you are a criminal the chances of you breaking into my house are going to be pretty small,” he said.

“But if I have a sign on my front window ‘Guns not allowed here,’ than that makes me a target for criminals that think ‘Well, I’m not going to get hurt because I know this person doesn’t have guns’ – or they’re against the guns.”

Similar arguments flowed from the Senate floor during this week’s debate.

“Criminals are idiots,” Jenson continued. “But at the same time they are smart enough to know that they are going to pick on people that they are going to get the least amount of resistance from.

“An unarmed person, schools, theaters where they know that guns aren’t allowed, that’s where they are going to make a statement, and that’s where the statement is going to be made. And history has proven that – look at all the shootings we’ve had.

“It’s not the guns that hurt people, it’s the guns behind them that hurt people. Guns by themselves will not kill, and I think to regulate what we have is just going to cause us problems,” he continued.

Like many, Jensen believes the Constitution outlines the issue clearly.

“You have a right as a citizen and you are not a felon, you aren’t charged with domestic violence and you don’t have a bad mental status – you have a right to own a weapon,” he said.

“Citizens have a right to protect themselves and their home,” added Joseph Aikens, Sidney Police Chief. “However I don’t think that it is something that should be mandated that everybody own a gun. That should be a citizen’s right to own a gun as well as not to own a gun.”

As to gun laws in general, Jenson said that his office has seen an increase in gun permits and that law-abiding citizens aren’t causing the problem the Senate is trying to take care of.

“We’ve seen an infusion increase in gun permits,” he said. “People that have not purchased them for years even. We’ve seen quite a few of the seniors come in and get gun permits.

“Changing the laws is not taking guns away from the criminals. It’s making it easier for the criminals to get it,” said Jenson.

“Criminals don’t run by the rules. A prime example is two of our three homicides were done with guns. The people who are accused of the shootings are felons. They aren’t supposed to have guns anyway - but they still have guns.”

“The people in Washington are using our constitution as a doormat, and they are using an incident for political reasons,” he continued.

Jenson said that there are some areas in current gun laws that could be improved and better enforced.

“There are areas of the law that can be improved. They need to improve on the mental health background checks and making that available to me, who is doing background checks for firearm permits, because right now I don’t have that.

“When we run a criminal history we go through it pretty in detail but those laws that they are trying to get passed and shoved down our throats are not helping the law-abiding citizen. They are making it easier for the criminals to get guns.

He said education and medical personnel involvement are keys to helping the situation.

“I think we can do more extensive backgrounds, especially on the mental health side. But to do that we have to have certain doctors standing up and taking the stance with us.

“It can’t be law enforcement fighting it alone. We’ve got to have doctors and mental health practitioners standing up going ‘Yeah, we need to do that,’ and I think that will eliminate some of the loopholes that we have.”

Jenson said that banning assault rifles and certain magazines would be practically useless because the dangerous individuals will get them either way.

“To ban high capacity magazines and assault rifles - what did they use in Boston?” he asked. “A kid down in Texas last week stabbed 14 people, so are they going to make the law strict on knives? Explosives are illegal too. How many people do we lose to car accidents every year? Last year in our county we lost six souls just because of vehicles.

“Are they going to ban cars next? They aren’t thinking about the opportunity. Stricter laws are going to hurt law-abiding citizens,” he said.

“I will fight along with several of my comrades, other sheriffs, any kind of law that is going to prohibit and infringe on our second amendment.

“To make those laws tighter, maybe a little more in-depth – that’s fine. But to say that you can’t have a high capacity mag? Well it’s not the good people going out and doing it. It’s the criminals so let’s enforce the laws that we have.”

“Magazines, they are out there,” said Aikens. “I know that when all the gun stuff came up you can’t go out and buy magazines out here because everybody is buying up and stocking up on them, and they are going in here to Cabela’s and they are buying them for $30 a piece and selling them for $60.

“They are all over the place and to completely eliminate and ban all high-capacity magazines it is going to be virtually impossible to control that,” Aikens continued.

“Future manufacturing of them, they may be able to regulate that, but the ones that are out there already they can’t.”

The sheriff said that better regulation of the laws in place is what will help the most to stop guns from getting into the wrong hands.

“We have some really good laws, but they just don’t get enforced. Such as if you are a felon in possession of a firearm you need to go to jail,” said Jenson. “You catch them, then you put them in jail.

“I’ve heard at gun shows you can buy whatever you want. Well we need to close that down because criminals are getting those – it’s good if they want to close some loopholes.

“If you go to a gun show, you need to have a purchase permit. That means that some law enforcement agency has done a background check on you. I don’t think anybody is complaining about background checks. I think that is a check and balance that we have in our system,” he continued.

“There is a law in Nebraska that says if I sell you a gun, private party to private party, then you have to see my purchase permit showing that I’ve got the background check and am legal to have it, and I have to look at yours – just between the two of us.”

Jenson explained that two law-abiding citizens would mostly likely follow that protocol pretty easily, but those that should not have a gun would not.

He mentioned that one current homicide suspect got his gun 13 years ago from someone who was in the country illegally.

Jenson said that if the law was followed properly, the man would never have entered the U.S. illegally and “that would have kept that gun out of this guy’s hand.”

“We have good laws. A lot of people have worked very hard to find a balance in those laws,” he said.

In Newton, Ga. proponents of the new gun law told CBS reporters that they felt as though it would give residents of city, that is located far away from any sheriffs who could respond to an emergency, a way to “take their protection into their own hands.”

“There was a sheriff that went out in one of the bigger cities and said that everybody needed to own there own weapon because it was going to be awhile until they could get there,” said Jenson. “We don’t want Joe-blow citizen to take and risk their life in that kind of situation because they don’t have the training to go with it.

“But with that being said, they have the right to protect themselves and their family inside their home by whatever means they feel is required - I’m not going to infringe on that,” said Jenson.

“Law enforcement work needs to be left up to law enforcement officers,” said Aikens.

“But every citizen in the United States has a right to protect themselves,” he continued. “Taking matter into their own hands isn’t as simple as that. There are rules even in protecting yourself.

“If there is an intruder in your home you have a right to protect yourself, but at the same time if you have the ability to flee to protect yourself that is the course of action you should take,” he said.

Sheriff Jenson said that a partnership between law enforcement and citizens is what can keep a city the safest.

“We will get there as fast as we can, but some of the safety features can prevent people from breaking into your home.

Jenson said that one safety precaution people can take is letting law enforcement know when they will be out of town.

“Both the police department and my office do house watches on places. Leave lights on and don’t let everyone on Facebook know that you are going to be gone.

“Don’t leave kids home alone, and if you do, make sure they have a plan,” he continued. “Be cautious of your surroundings and report suspicion people and vehicles.

“Law enforcement and the public have to work together to make our community safer and the criminals have to know that,” he said. “The partnership between us and the community is huge. The community is an extension of law enforcement’s eyes. They’ve got to feel open and welcome to call us at any time – day or night.”