David Codrea.
“The Wake County Range (the Firearms Education and Training Center), built for use by Wake County citizens is now being closed to the public, effective January 15, 2020,” Grassroots North Carolina alerted its members Friday. “This comes as a huge surprise as Sheriff Baker, who manages the range through contractors he hires, gave no advanced warning of this decision. There was no public discussion, no prior announcement—not a thing.”
Per The News & Observer, “The Wake County Sheriff’s Office ended its contract with Range Safety Management (RSM) LLC.” The sheriff’s state reasoning, a “lack of profitability and a review that fees and funds collected … were not accounted for accurately,” speaks more to mismanagement than anything else. If there are issues, why is it not in the public interest to openly discuss them and to consider temporary and long-term solutions?
The county commission’s response was initially tepid and noncommittal, even though GRNC asserted a letter it issued “makes it clear that they were not involved in the Sheriff’s decision, and suggested his decision may have been rash.” WRAL.com now reports “County Manager David Ellis informed the sheriff that the county would take over control of the facility.” What Ellis means by “find[ing] a balance between public and law enforcement use” remains to be defined.
It is Wake County, after all, one of the two centers of progressive thought in North Carolina (Charlotte being the other one). Without Wake and Mecklenburg counties, North Carolina would be solidly red and an easy win for conservative and libertarian candidates.
But this one hits hard, as it was originally chartered for public use. Now, the Sheriff has claimed sole ownership and use of it.
Brock Townsend has written a letter to the Wake County Commissioners.
The citizenry must be allowed access their own facility, which was originally chartered for public use. I’m demanding that this be rectified as soon as possible, and that a full explanation of how this happened in the first place be provided.
I will be monitoring your actions on this important matter through alerts from Grass Roots North Carolina.
So this is how it’s going to be. Attacks against our God-given rights nationally and locally, with a new attack virtually every breath we take.
Very well. Queue up the war. Politicians and peace officers serve at the behest of the people, and the people can throw them out. Or do you not see yourself as a peace officer, Sheriff Baker? Let’s start there. Are you a constitutional Sheriff and a peace officer, or are you a law enforcement officer? Your answer to that question will tell us everything we need to know about you.
Which is it? We’re waiting.
