Dedicated to Electing a Pro-Freedom Sheriff in Orange County
SAFE OC Event on November 4th: An Evening With John R. Lott, Ph.D.
Breaking News: SAFE OC Endorses Bill Hunt for Sheriff of Orange County
If you’re reading this, your rights as an American citizen and a resident of Orange County are at stake.
Last year, Sandra Hutchens was appointed Sheriff of Orange County to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of the former Sheriff and to finish out his elected term in office. Despite inheriting a Department plagued by accusations of political favoritism and a poorly run jail system, our new Sheriff immediately targeted law-abiding citizens holding licenses to carry concealed weapons (CCWs).
Since last autumn, Hutchens has embarked on a single-minded campaign to revoke, deny and restrict the number of CCWs in Orange County. She has even drastically changed her Department’s definition of “good cause” in order to make it far more difficult for an ordinary person to obtain a CCW. Hutchens has also decided that a large number of citizens no longer deserve to have a CCW, and is revoking their permits. Many of these citizens have invested hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars and hours of time applying for their CCWs and undergoing the required background checks, training and inspection. Many have held CCWs for years. All applied in good faith, and satisfactorily met all the criteria under the law. Despite these facts, Sheriff Hutchens has aggressively moved to revoke these CCWs.
What is even more astonishing is that there is no evidence that these permits were improperly issued or that the previous Sheriff’s decision to liberalize CCW issuance has made our County less safe. To the contrary, a wealth of studies shows that crime decreases when law-abiding citizens are able to legally carry firearms.
Although the County Board of Supervisors has attempted to persuade Hutchens not to “fix” a problem that does not exist, she refuses to do so. It is clear that the days of liberal CCW issuance in Orange County are over, unless we do something to reverse this trend.
With this goal in mind, six citizens and residents of Orange County, including a leading firearms trainer, a range owner, an attorney, and other professionals, formed the SAFE OC Political Action Committee. Our steadfast belief is that communities are safer when law-abiding, trained citizens are armed.
You may have already heard of other similar, pro-CCW groups, some of which have done an excellent job of exposing Sheriff Hutchens’ contempt for CCW holders at the recent Board of Supervisors meetings. We commend these groups, but ours is different. Instead of focusing on newsgathering, reporting or lawsuits, we are the only Committee devoted exclusively to replacing Sheriff Hutchens in 2010.
Our goal is to spend the next 18 months educating the public and other conservative Orange County political groups about the threat to liberty and safety posed by Hutchens’ actions; build a base of supporters from the larger community dedicated to Hutchens’ ouster; and to find and support an alternative candidate who will make a written pledge to restore liberal CCW issuance if elected.
We are not focused on lawsuits or the unlikely possibility of a statewide change in CCW law. Our goal is limited but attainable: Electing a pro-CCW Sheriff in the 2010 election.
We need your help. Please e-mail us to be added to our mailing list so that we can keep you updated with news and information. Please visit often and check our calendar of events. Most importantly, please consider contributing as much as you are able. Many CCW holders have invested thousands in application fees, training, inspection and equipment to obtain their rights. Won’t you invest an equal amount to preserve them?
Contributions can be made online, or by mail using the linked contribution form. Please be aware that contributions are not tax deductible.
Please feel free to contact us by phone, mail or e-mail. We are a transparent, accessible PAC committed to serving the safety of the County by ensuring that law-abiding citizens have the means to defend themselves. This is our goal – a SAFE OC.
April 21st, 2009
April 20, 2009 — Irvine, California
The Republican Party of Orange County Central Committee, on a vote of 41 to 14, approved a slightly modified resolution tonight “opposing” appointed Sheriff Hutchens’ CCW policy and expressing support for AB 357, which would make California a “shall issue” state.
The original resolution, approved 7-0 by the Resolutions Committee, would have expressed “no confidence” in Hutchens’ CCW policy. Committee Member Anna Bryson moved to replace the resolution with a strongly watered-down version. This attempt failed when a motion to table Ms. Bryson’s replacement carried. Party Chairman Scott Baugh then moved to amend the original resolution to delete seven words including the “no confidence” language, replacing them with the single word, “oppose.” After much debate, Chairman Baugh’s amendment carried, and then the resolution as amended was approved 41 to 14.
Numerous Committee members spoke in favor of and against the resolution. Member Bruce Whitaker, who spearheaded the original resolution in the Resolutions Committee, spoke passionately in favor of it, while Member Don Daucher, a law professor, argued against.
Assistant Sheriff Jack Anderson vehemently defended appointed Sheriff Hutchens’ policy — even to the point of likening Hutchens’ to “Lady Justice” and saying that appeals to the Second Amendment, while they might make one feel “warm like Pat Nixon’s wool coat” were really “the cloak of Darth Vader.” Anderson hypocritically discussed the internal workings of the Sheriff’s Department when it suited his comments, but then when a Committee Member mentioned his status as Assistant Sheriff, barked “I am NOT here as Assistant Sheriff tonight but as a member of this body!” When one speaker mentioned that a Federal Flight Deck Officer had his CCW permit restricted by Hutchens, Anderson proudly related that the pilot’s license had been subjected to limiting terms allowing him to carry only to and from his employment. (One wonders why, in the minds of Hutchens and Anderson, a pilot is trusted to carry a firearm to and from the airport, but magically becomes untrustworthy and unsafe when going to the bank, grocery store or office.) As his final comment, Anderson directly attacked supporters of CCW in broad and accusatory terms, telling the Committee, “you are being gamed” and claiming that the resolution was the work of a small group of agitators “angry that they no longer have influence with the Department,” as if the groundswell and outcry against Hutchens’ arbitrary restriction of CCW could not possibly be the result of honest concern for personal safety and freedom.
The Committee, thankfully, was not swayed by Anderson’s remarks, and overwhelmingly expressed opposition to Hutchens’ CCW policies. Supporters of CCW were out in force at the meeting, while our appointed Sheriff was not present. Conversations with staffers revealed that while several elected officials on the Committee received phone calls urging them to vote in favor of the resolution, the only written communication by a pro-CCW group they received was the letter sent by the SAFE OC political action committee.
Tonight’s resolution marks a victory in the fight against Hutchens’ restrictive CCW policy, but it is only the beginning. As tonight’s debate showed, many in the Orange County Republican Party support Hutchens and misunderstand the import of CCW. Much work remains to be done to educate elected officials and the public, bring this issue before the County’s political organizations, build a base of support for Hutchens’ ouster, and identify and support an alternative candidate for Sheriff who will make a written pledge to restore liberal CCW issuance in Orange County. Please consider making a contribution to SAFE OC so that these goals can be met in the coming weeks and months.
Tags: CCW, Orange County, Sandra Hutchens, Second Amendment, Shall issue
Posted in System | No Comments »
April 20th, 2009
Republican Party of Orange County, Central Committee Meeting - today at 7 pm at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine
Tags: Orange County, Republican
Posted in System | No Comments »
April 9th, 2009
Posted in System | Comments Off