Sheriff says unconstitutional laws will not be enforced in Collin County

When Collin County Sheriff Terry Box posted his thoughts on the national gun control debate Sunday on Facebook, he did so in response to emails and phone calls he had received from county residents asking for his position on gun control.

He knew his post would generate discussion, but he didn't foresee the statement spreading like wildfire across the Internet, Box said Tuesday.

While his words have been twisted to say that he will not enforce any new gun laws, Box said this is not the case, adding his comments had nothing to do with the 23 recommendations made by President Barack Obama last week.

"Nowhere did I say I would not go along with any measures if they are constitutional," he said. "I would contact the DA, lawyers and whoever I needed to ensure it is indeed constitutional -- if it was determined it was unconstitutional, neither I nor my deputies would enforce it."

Box said while he does not support bans on assault weapons or high-capacity magazines, those laws would be enforced since they have never been ruled unconstitutional. Only unconstitutional laws, such as gun confiscation, that would not be enforced, he said.

"My people have been enforcing gun laws for years; I have no qualms with that," he said. "I am not some kind of rebellious person."

Even if additional gun laws are passed, Box said he doesn't believe it will have the effect the president desires.

"We have plenty of gun laws on the books and we should enforce the laws that we have," he said. "Also, people need to have more availability to mental health counseling. All we do now is throw people in jail and then let them back on the street. There is really no plan for the government to do more with people who have mental health problems at the state or national level."

The uncertainty over what the future holds has led to what many have dubbed "panic buying," where consumers are purchasing large quantities of firearms and ammunition in case they are eventually banned, said Randy Bateman, owner of McKinney Gun and Knife Supply. Bateman said since the gun debate started up again, it is nearly impossible to keep many items in stock.

"As soon as Obama started talking about executive orders and bypassing the processes that we had in place to make laws, that put everybody on edge because they know he has no fondness for guns," Bateman said. "That put everybody in a big panic."

Bateman said gun sales also surged after Obama was elected in 2008, but he feels the current situation is far more severe because of the unexpected nature of the events that preceded it.

"People were prepared for Obama getting elected [from a gun control standpoint], but nobody could have ever foreseen the Sandy Hook shooting taking place," he said. "It kind of blindsided everybody. As soon as that happened, Obama started talking about gun control laws -- something he had never really done before."

While there are still AR-15s -- rifles that have been dubbed assault weapons in prior gun control legislation-- on the shelves at Bateman's store, they don't last long. Many of the weapons are on consignment and are selling for prices that are considerably higher then they were just several months ago.

"Everybody is buying on speculation right now -- what might happen," he said. "They are just trying to cover all their bases."

Staff writer Chris Beattie contributed to this story.

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