Warning Letter from California Attorney General’s Office Highlights Risks of Shasta County’s Resolution on Guns

4.23.24 1:45 pm: We’ve updated our language around the difference between a resolution and a law, for accuracy.

This week, in response to a public records request, Shasta Scout obtained a letter sent to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors from the California Attorney General’s Office on March 1, 2024, just a few days before the March 5 primary.

The AG’s letter highlighted two recent issues of county business: a board resolution authorizing the carrying of concealed weapons on county property and a recommendation from the Shasta County Elections Commission to hand count ballots. 

On the issue of hand counting ballots, the instructions from the AG’s office, were brief and to the point. While the Shasta County Elections Commission has issued a recommendation that the Board insist on hand counting of votes, Assembly Bill 969 outlawed manual counts in elections with more than 1,000 voters. “

And we anticipate and expect,” Chief Deputy AG Venus Johnson wrote, that the county board and registrar of voters “will comply with California law and state election procedures notwithstanding the Commission’s recommendation.”

When it came to the Board’s resolution regarding carrying weapons on county property, Chief Deputy AG Johnson was just as clear. Although the Shasta County Board of Supervisors has said it believes the restrictions of Senate Bill 2 to be unconstitutional, the AG’s Office said, the issue of which laws are constitutional is not up to the board.

“We note that the Board’s resolution appears to have been motivated by its contention that Senate Bill 2 .  . . is unconstitutional,” Johnson wrote. “That is a question for the courts to decide.”

The AG’s Office also highlighted an important connection between the Board’s resolution on carrying guns in county buildings and the security of elections.

“Although a federal district court has temporarily enjoined some . . . prohibitions on carrying firearms into defined ‘sensitive places’ while the merits of constitutional challenges are being litigated,” the AG’s Office wrote, “the court has left untouched California’s prohibition against carrying firearms at or near voting and vote-counting locations, among other sensitive places.” 

“Given the upcoming primary election on March 5,” Johnson wrote, “we write to remind the Board that state law prohibits firearms at or near polling places and locations where votes are being counted, and those laws remain in effect regardless of the Board’s resolution.”

“Plainly stated,” Johnson wrote, “California’s laws against possessing firearms at or near polling locations are fully in force, and offenses are punishable by both fines and imprisonment.”

The Board’s January 23 resolution on SB 2 has not been voted in as a county ordinance, or law. Information currently provided on the county’s website indicates that signs in support of the resolution have not yet been posted pending “crucial discussions with labor, County Counsel, and the Board of Supervisors. “

Have questions, concerns, or comments you’d like to share with us directly? Reach out: editor@shastascout.org.