HOLLIDAYSBURG — A proposed draft ordinance and agreement making Blair County a Second Amendment sanctuary generated discussion without consensus during Thursday’s commissioners meeting.

Commissioner Laura Burke posed several questions to Commissioner Amy Webster about the draft ordinance Webster distributed Tuesday as a step toward complying with the Second Amendment referendums voters approved in November.

On the county level and in each of the 24 municipalities, voters cast ballots requiring local governing bodies to enter into an agreement creating a sanctuary in protection of gun rights. The goal, based on the referendums, is to prohibit use of taxpayer resources for enforcement of any legislation, adopted after Nov. 2, 2021, which infringes upon an eligible citizen’s right to bear arms.

Burke asked Webster on Thursday about the budgetary effect of the draft ordinance she proposed.

Webster said the draft ordinance cites the state’s County Code and enforcement powers bestowed on counties. Webster said the county’s enforcement power differs from enforcement powers and resources held by the other 24 municipal governing bodies in the county.

“The municipalities have police powers we don’t have,” Webster said.

Burke questioned who pays for the defense if a county employee is accused of violating the ordinance.

The proposed draft ordinance states that anyone who believes the sanctuary ordinance has been violated has the option of filing a private criminal complaint with a district court or asking that a criminal complaint be filed by the district attorney’s office.

Burke asked: “Aren’t we creating a situation where we are creating more work for everyone in our courts?”

Webster said that anytime the county does something on behalf of its residents, it’s not unusual for that action to generate work.

Burke also told Webster and fellow commissioner Bruce Erb that she has heard from county residents concerned about the sanctuary’s impact on existing gun laws, like ones that forbid gun ownership and possession based on criminal convictions and court orders.

Webster said the sanctuary won’t change existing laws.

Erb said Thursday’s discussion was evidence of the complexities and different interpretations that figure into the current pace of efforts to comply with the voters’ directives.

“For people who ask: ‘Why isn’t anything done yet?’ This is clearly why,” Erb said.

Erb also reiterated that the task of approving an intergovernmental agreement to create the sanctuary rests with 25 governing bodies, all with equal footing.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.