Sheriff Wayne Ivey's 2nd Amendment Response

March 30, 2013

I recently sent the following e-mail to Brevard County Sheriff, Wayne Ivey:

"From: L McKinney
"Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 7:21 PM
"To: admin@bcso.us
"Subject: Will you enforce unconstitutional gun laws?

"Sheriff Ivey,

"There are approx. 340 Sheriffs around America who have stated publicly that they would not enforce any unconstitutional gun ban laws that the House, Senate and the current occupier of the White House would put forth (source: http://nation.foxnews.com/gun-control/2013/03/19/340-sheriffs-refuse-enforce-unconstitutional-gun-control-laws). Would you agree to their stance and agree that “We, The People” have the right – indeed the responsibility according to some of the writings of the Founding Fathers – to “keep and bear arms” per the Second Amendment?

"Please respond because this is a serious inquiry.

"Thank you very much for your answer.

"Linda McKinney

"Brevard County Resident"

"From: "L McKinney"
"Date: March 30, 2013, 5:30:41 PM EDT
"To: admin@bcso.us
"Subject: Fw: Will you enforce unconstitutional gun laws?

"Sheriff Ivey,

"As you can see it has been over a week since I sent you an e-mail asking if you would enforce unconstitutional gun laws. I haven’t heard back from you so I thought I’d send a gentle reminder and ask the question again. Do you and WOULD you support “We, The People” and allow us to retain and practice our 2nd Amendment rights if the federal government came up with unconstitutional gun laws? I DO NOT see Brevard County listed, nor your name on the list (http://cspoa.org/sheriffs-gun-rights/) of Sheriffs who would support and endorse “We, The People”. So, sir, which is it?

"The United States Constitution you swore your allegiance to in your oath of office (http://election.dos.state.fl.us/forms/pdf/DSDE56.pdf):

"'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, protect, and defend the Constitution and Government of the United States and of the State of Florida; that I am duly qualified to hold office under the Constitution of the State, and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of Sheriff of Brevard County, Florida, on which I am now about to enter, so help me God.'"

"Sheriff Ivey, I would like to point out that you swore your allegiance to the Constitution and not to ONE MAN (i.e. the president) and to remind you that -- according to the U.S. Constitution (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html) -- it is “We, The People” who are the “Government”, the second thing you swore to defend. Now, I ask you again, Sir. Will you enforce against those you swore to “support, protect and defend” an illegal law that breaks the 2nd Amendment? Or will you refuse to give your allegiance to ONE MAN and stand up for the U.S. Constitution and the people who pay your salary, voted you into office and demand your loyalty to “We, The People” and the U.S. Constitution?

"Sir, I want an answer.

"Sincerely,

"Linda McKinney"

I don't think he liked the second one. I don't think he does "Out of Office" auto-responses because I didn't get one. Sheriff Ivey got a little touchy in his all bold-lettered reply. Which was:

"Linda,
"Let me start by telling you that I had not responded to your email as I was out of state on vacation with my family. While I would have been eager to respond to your first email upon my return, I was disappointed in finding your second email where you "demand" an answer from me and question the oath of office I so proudly took on January 7th. I have received a large volume of emails on this issue that very respectfully inquire about my position on the matter or encourage me to support the 2nd Amendment. For the record I have proudly displayed my position on this issue on my FaceBook Page, on Bill Mick Live (WMMB), on the Matt Reed Show on Florida Today and through every organization that has allowed me to speak about my support of the second amendment. In essence I am a bit surprised that you were not already aware of my position but in any regard below is my message to others that have respectfully emailed me about being a Constitutional Sheriff.

"'On January 7, 2013, I proudly took the Oath of Office to support the United States Constitution and the Florida Constitution. I am a constitutional Sheriff, who was supported and endorsed by the original Constitutional Sheriff, Richard Mack and the NRA. They openly supported me because I not only support our great Nation's Constitution, but oppose anyone who would attempt to trample our citizen's rights. Further, I support our citizen's right to own and bear arms. I shall always uphold this important Oath, to include supporting the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The right to bear arms is fundamental to our individual freedoms and is deeply rooted in the American way of life. That's my position, always has been, always will be.

"Recently, I attended a meeting with the majority of the Sheriff's in the state of Florida. I am proud to tell you that during the meeting we unanimously voted to have our Florida Sheriff's Association announce our collective opposition to any illegal gun control measures that threaten our 2nd amendment rights. The announcement is a unified measure of all Sheriff's in the State of Florida and in my opinion sends a resounding message!

"Please know that I am closely monitoring this concerning issue and stand ready to serve as your Brevard County Sheriff.'

"As you can see I have no difficulty in stating my position on this matter or any other. The Florida Sheriff's Association and its members sent a significant a message of strength and unity through their joint resolution. Our mission was to hopefully have other states follow and present a unified response as well.

"In the future if you have any questions regarding my position on this or any other matter please contact me and give me an opportunity to timely address the issue. My position on this matter has and always will be the same. The Oath of Office I took will never be taken lightly as I am fully aware of the importance of my oath and the position I serve as the Shepard of our Community. Hopefully this clarifies the answer you were looking for!

"Sheriff Wayne Ivey" [NOTE: I added the color to help clarify where his Facebook statement started and ended.]

So now we know that most of the Sheriffs in FL are not going to support the unconstitutional gun-grabbing of the president and his helpers.

That's a good thin. A very good thing. I am responding with a link to this page so he can see my response here. If I hear back from him, you'll see it here.

Sheriff Ivey, maybe your attitude would have been different if you knew the following:

• I am not on Facebook, so I couldn't see your statement. I didn't see it on the Sheriff's office page, so I guess that's just my problem.



• Your office sent no "auto response" with an out of office statement; nor did your assistant/secretary tell me you were. How was I to know you were on vacation with your family? Am I supposed to stalk my Sheriff to keep track of him for e-mails' sake?



• If you will read my second e-mail again, I said it was a "gentle reminder"; and, trust me, it could have been a LOT more demanding. Ask around. You'll find out. I said I wanted an answer because I wanted you to know it wasn't a facetious question. No sarcasm was involved. I was looking for an honest answer for an honest question and I was letting you know that I wasn't just assuming I knew the answer (which, if I had assumed, would have been that those who hadn't put their names on the list were going to stand with the president, and not with the citizens).



• The original e-mail questioned you on the same thing: Where will you stand? The second e-mail just provided more information and was more specific about the question. When at first you don't succeed... As I said, I didn't know you were on vacation. Did you e-mail me and tell me and I just missed it?



• I don't listen to Bill Mick (although I like him) because I am a nightowl. I go to bed right before he comes on. My usual bedtime is around 4:30-5:30 a.m. So, as you can see, I didn't hear you on Bill's show discussing the issue. And I don't like Matt Reed so I don't read his columns, nor do I go on a regular basis nor subscribe to any version of FL Toady [sic]. As you can see, I don't like or trust the Toady [sic] so why would I subscribe to or read them on a regular basis?



• Neither of my e-mails was disrespectful (although I cannot say the same for yours to me). One was unanswered (now I know why; then I did not), so I sent another with a little more "umph". Is that against the Sheriff Ivey law? I shall be sure to tell others so they'll know to be more respectful than I. Although as an elected official -- and an experienced cop -- personally, I think you should be more thick-skinned than this.



• It's good to know that you and the other Sheriffs of Florida put our rights ahead of a single man's maniacal power. I am very glad to know this and, honestly, am proud of the Sheriffs of Florida -- including you -- for deciding so. I shall submit your e-mail and this page as proof to the list of 340.



• In future I will give you time to respond. I thought that eleven days would have been enough; but I didn't know about the vacation and I didn't expect you to respond on a Saturday evening. I expected you to receive my second e-mail on Monday morning after returning to work from Easter weekend.



• I sent the original e-mail BCC to almost thirty other people and NONE of them wrote back saying they heard you state your position on Bill Mick's show, nor in FL Toady [sic]. Some of them names you would recognize as leaders in Brevard County's Conservative ring. NONE wrote and said they knew where you stand. One person who I know listens to Mick on a regular basis, in fact, wrote and said that she was going to write and ask the same thing because it had been on her mind for a few days, too. She forwarded my e-mail to several others. Which, by now you may be aware of.



• One response said that they had spoken to some deputies who would not confiscate guns unconstitutionally, but that the deputies...

  "say there are many who also feel that way and a few whom they feel would."

  So, Sheriff Ivey, it's up to you to educate your Deputies on what the Constitution says our rights are and why they cannot do what you do not authorize them to do. I think you should know that part. Even some of your Deputies think that "a few" of their fellow Deputies would take our guns.

So that's my response to Sheriff Wayne Ivey. Sir, I hope that you can understand that I had no way of knowing where you stood on the issue, had received no response to my original inquiry and, eleven days being long enough to wait for an elected official to respond to a simple question, asked the simple questiion a little stronger. If I had wanted to be bad ahem about it, trust me, you would have seen something a LOT harder. Peruse my website. You'll see.

Have a good evening, a Blessed Easter, and I hope you enjoyed your vacation (which I knew nothing about). If you're a follower of Christ (which I hope all cops are because of the inherent dangers of their occupation), maybe you'd like to read a poem I wrote about Easter: "And The Nails Went In..." May that be a peace offering between us.

UPDATE!

I sent Sheriff Ivey the following e-mail after posting this page:

"Sheriff Ivey admin@bcso.org
"On Mar 30, 2013, at 20:30
"L McKinney"

"Sheriff Ivey,

"I wished to respond, but I also wished to let all of those who did not know your stance what you have stated your stance is. Thus, I published our e-mail exchange and a few comments (below your e-mail) about your response to my question. Please scroll to the bottom of this page http://www.spacecoastconservative.com/iveyresponse1.htm if you wish to see what I said.

"Thank you and have a good evening and a Blessed Easter.

"Linda McKinney"

A short time later, I received the following from Sheriff Ivey:

"From: "Ivey, Wayne"
"Thread-Topic: Will you enforce unconstitutional gun laws?
"Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2013 21:06:16 -0400
"To: "L McKinney"

"Linda,

"Thank you for the well Easter wishes and I hope you have a great Easter as well! I greatly appreciate you sharing my response and position on this matter with your email group so everyone can be aware of my position on this important issue. As I have told everyone that has inquired about my position "in a time of need you will be proud of how I defend the constitution and our citizens" as I have always stood up for what is right!!

"Wayne

"Wayne Ivey
"Brevard County Sheriff
"(321) 427-7231

"Bonnie Canada
"Executive Assistant to the Sheriff
"(321) 264-5372"

Of course, if there are any further updates, I'll let you know.