So what should happen when a government official violates our rights? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    The Problem: Prior to last year North Carolina had a hodge-podge patch-quilt set of gun laws. Each municipality enacted its own version of restrictions on the right of citizens with concealed handgun permits to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Many municipalities passed laws prohibiting weapons on city property. Other prohibited weapons on certain types of city property.

    The Solution: The General Assembly passed a law that was intended to make it uniform across the state where a person could carry a weapon.

    The Corruption of a Sensible Idea: Just as soon as they got a chance many municipalities began looking for a way around the new state law. Some passed additional ordinances, twisting the intent and meaning of the state law. In other cases, city bureaucrats (in Washington, N. C. it was the local Police Chief) began impose their interpretations on citizens.

    Click here to read one such story.

    The Real Solution: As the News and Observer story says, Grass Roots North Carolina, the most effective gun rights group in the state, has stepped forward in several instances and blown the whistle on these illegal municipal actions. They have threatened to sue municipalities that are violating the state law and Second Amendment. To date it has not been necessary for them to actually file suit. All the violators have backed down.

    There are two stories here. The first is about the right of citizens to carry weapons on municipal property. The other is the story of how public officials corrupt the system because they believe they possess some superior wisdom about what is best for the rest of us. They have no appreciation for our constitutional rights.

    What it takes to protect our rights is organized citizens willing to take such bureaucrats and elected officials to court. Few individuals have the ability to do that, but jointly like-minded citizens who join groups such as Grass Roots North Carolina can make a real difference.

    We are quite familiar with the gig. We encounter it all the time with bureaucrats and elected officials who try to circumvent the right of the people to know what their government is doing. It sometimes involves violation the Open Meetings Law. At other times it is the violation of the Public Records Law. What they count on is that nobody will take them to task.

    In the case of the Open government laws the trick they pull is to use taxpayer money to pay lawyers to defend them and thereby force private citizens to dig into their own pockets to ensure the law being enforced. That's not a very effective enforcement system because most of us don't have the money to sue these violators of our rights.

    So what should be done? The answer is simple. If a bureaucrat or official is found guilty of violating our rights they should have to pay out of their own personal pockets. They should have to pay the governing body's legal bills, the plaintiff's legal bills and the cost of court.

    It's time for the General Assembly to put some teeth in the enforcement of our constitutional rights.