Effingham County, Illinois, on Monday became a "sanctuary county" for gun owners.
The county board passed the resolution on an 8-1 vote and directed its employees not to enforce any new state law that would “unconstitutionally restrict the Second Amendment.”
Effingham County State’s Attorney Bryan Kibler said that the action is largely symbolic and will not control decision-making by law enforcement.
On "Fox & Friends First," Effingham County board member David Campbell and Kibler joined Heather Childers to explain the thinking behind the resolution and what it means for the county.
Campbell said they decided to "take a stand" because they've seen an increasing number of state House and Senate bills that attack the Second Amendment.
"[We] decided it's time for someone to take a hard stand," Campbell said, explaining that he modeled the resolution after a similar one that was adopted by Iroquois County, Illinois.
Kibler said the measure may be "mostly symbolic," but they felt it was important to express that many residents in Effingham County are concerned about their Second Amendment rights slowly being stripped away.
"So we thought ... why don't we just make this a sanctuary county like they would for undocumented immigrants. So we did flip the script on it," Kibler said, revealing that they've received an outpouring of support, along with some pushback.
The vote in southern Illinois came after a town near Chicago voted recently to ban assault weapons, such as the AR-15 rifle, along with high-capacity magazines.