On Monday, Oct. 18, Guilford County commissioners met via Zoom with the local delegation of state legislators to make requests of the state, and one very interesting request was for the legislators to change state law and allow security officers employed by Guilford County to carry guns in the courthouse.
When Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne made the request on behalf of Guilford County government to the state legislators, he said this would give Guilford County better control over how security responses in the courthouse are handled.
In an email after the meeting, Payne went into a little more detail as to why this change would be a positive one.
“It is more [to] shift personnel away from private security to our staff whom we train and guide,” the county attorney wrote. “This is more about the small issues that we want to correct so they do not turn into larger ones.”
At the meeting, Payne said that, up until around 2019, county-employed security officers did carry guns in the county’s two courthouses.
“We were carrying weapons and someone filed a complaint,” Payne said, adding that Guilford County stopped the practice at that time due to existing state law.
The county officials at the Oct. 18 meeting stated that they would be fine with a local bill from the state that granted Guilford County this right by exception, and kept current state law the same elsewhere.
During the virtual meeting, the state legislators seemed very agreeable with the change, though some wanted to do more research on the matter and discuss it with court and law enforcement officials.
Guilford County government has made several major moves lately when it comes to county security. In a still unexplained move – which came out of the blue like Monday’s courthouse gun permission request – in early September, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners came out of a long closed session and voted to approve 11 new Guilford County Security Department positions (and four new Sheriff’s Department positions as well).
Also, in recent months, county commissioner meetings have had much greater security than in the past.
So, let’s use taxpayer money to fund protection for the people representing the taxpayer, just in case said taxpayer finally realizes that the people they elected really don’t represent them, rather they follow their own agenda. Sounds just like the current state of affairs in Washington.
This from same commissioners that were looking into shooting and gun restrictions for everyone in the county but want more surrounding them. Hypocrisy at its most fascist, guns for the elite and scorn for the masses.
I cry Bovine Excrement on this.
Commissioners should merely allow lawful citizens with concealed carry permits their “permission” to carry in county facilities. No action by legislature in Raleigh required and no expense for unarmed “rent a cops” to taxpayers.
Isn’t it strange how government believes in guns for itself, but not for the people?
A monopoly of violence is a necessary precondition for totalitarianism.
The City Council, along with most of the govt, have armed guards and security gates at the entrances. We do not have anything at home, or on the street. It is up to us to maintain are own security. When the left takes that away, we are dead meat.
Look at what is happening in Australia. The have no Bill of Rights, no 2nd amendment. Years ago, the citizens firearms were all but confiscated. Now you have no freedom of speech or assembly. No means of resistance. And it is getting much worse.
Where are you gonna go?
Do the producers at Saturday Night Live know about these commissioners?
They could do a whole year on those 9 Commisioners plus the Greensboro City Council. Heck, I bet they could get a solid month if episodes out of just the legal SNAFUs of the “Board of Health” baloney.