Sheriff's approach makes sense

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry has recently caught some unwarranted criticism for not jumping on the bandwagon of sheriffs across Montana and the country who have boldly proclaimed they will resist gun-control measures they regard as unconstitutional.

It’s as if some of his critics regard him as a Second Amendment foe merely because he’s “not puffing up his chest” and is instead holding his fire on the matter. Curry plainly stated he would “never support removing guns from law-abiding citizens” and he correctly went on to explain that currently there are no measures for him to respond to.

There certainly is a lot of noise coming from gun-control groups and a lot of liberal politicians, but that’s about it. The most talked-about legislation in Washington, D.C., is Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s so-called “assault weapons ban.”

As we’ve stated on these pages before, Feinstein and her allies tout her bill as being a straightforward and “reasonable” measure, but in reality it goes well beyond its titled purpose. It is festooned with provisions that would ban some handguns and shotguns as well as “assault” rifles based on their appearance. It would put limits on magazine capacities and set the stage for a national gun registry and universal background checks that would apply to private gun transactions.

It is obvious that enacting and enforcing this measure would be incredibly expensive. It is so laden with baggage that it will never pass the Republican-controlled House, and because of that, it’s questionable whether many Senate Democrats — including Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester — would offer sacrificial support for it.

But if something that would expand federal gun control got any real traction in Washington, then Sheriff Curry would have something tangible to open fire on. That’s simply not the case right now.

We don’t support additional gun-control legislation, and based on his comments, we have no reason to think Sheriff Curry does either.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.