Oregon Sheriff Focal Point for Anti-Gun Law Movement with Presidential Visit Looming

Anti-gun control groups and individuals with ties to extremist militia and antigovernment groups say they will protest the president’s visit to Oregon, where he is expected to extend his personal compassion to victims’ families of yet another mass-shooting tragedy and likely talk about gun control.

Sheriff John Hanlin. (LA Times.)

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, who is heading up the investigation of the shooting, will likely be in attendance –– with all the ideological luggage that puts him firmly in one corner of the debate surrounding these shootings.

Hanlin is a member of a constitutional sheriff’s group that opposes federal intervention. He once wrote a letter to Vice President Biden opposing gun control and vowed not to enforce any new federal laws that tamper with the Second Amendment. And even before a gunman went on a rampage at Umpqua Community CollegeRoseburg, Hanlin had a Facebook post suggesting both the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were staged by the federal government as pretexts to take Americans’ guns.

Hanlin also is a member of Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), a group created in 2011 by former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack to stand as a “line in the sand” against a federal government many on the antigovernment right see as tyrannical. CSPOA has asked the nation’s 3,080 sheriffs to sign a pledge to “oppose and disallow” any new federal gun control legislation. Hanlin is one of hundreds of sheriffs who have signed.

Already those views have raised questions. The National Sheriff’s Association, a more politically moderate group, has said the Oregon sheriff should enforce federal and state laws, not his personal beliefs. Against that backdrop, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence yesterday called for the Hanlin to resign, claiming his pro-gun, “extreme views” would cloud the credibility of the any investigation he leads.

“The investigation of the Umpqua Community College shooting is in the hands of a man whose extreme views are at odds with the organization that represents sheriffs across the country,” Brady Campaign president Dan Gross said in a statement.

Hanlin’s “conspiracy theories about 9/11 and Sandy Hook and his refusal to enforce the law not only violate his sworn responsibility as a sheriff, they also put a cloud over the investigation which he is charged with leading,” Gross said.

“The public deserves to have the confidence that a thorough investigation is being conducted that will yield honest answers — not just the ones Hanlin deems should be shared. That’s exactly why the Brady Campaign and people across the country are saying #enough and are calling for his immediate resignation. The community deserves justice, and Sheriff Hanlin can't deliver."

Hanlin testified before the Oregon Legislature earlier this year, vehemently opposing a new state law extending background checks for all gun transfers in the state. Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill, which took effect Aug. 9. Last year, voters in neighboring Washington State overwhelmingly supported mandatory background checks on private gun sales.  Four other states in the last two years have strengthened gun sales laws.

Those new state gun laws prompted demonstrations earlier this year in the Northwest by pro-gun, antigovernment groups, including those planning to protest President Obama’s visit to Oregon on Friday.

Mike Vanderboegh, cofounder of the so-called “III Percent” movement, and several “Will Not Comply” leaders spoke at those pro-gun rallies where many demonstrators were armed, some in militia uniforms. On his blog, Vanderboegh already has hyped Friday’s demonstration in Roseburg – live theater pitting gun control advocates and the president against the Oregon sheriff and others who oppose gun control. 

Vanderboegh said in a recent post that he wonders if protesters will be “either relegated to a ‘free speech zone’ or the participants face some kind of jackbooted action.”

“In other words, your presence is needed,” Vanderboegh urged his followers. “As I’ve written before, the potential for things to go bad is not a good reason to stay home,” he said. “It is, however, a pretty compelling reason to go.”

But Hanlin is holding ground.

“Gun control … has no role in this,” he told the Oregonian, claiming his personal views on gun control have nothing to do with the Oct. 1 community college shooting. “My job is to ensure the safety of the public here,” he told the newspaper.

Hanlin is a member of a Facebook group of Douglas County enthusiasts fascinated with the AR-15, a military-style, semi-automatic assault rifle that can be easily converted to a fully automatic machine gun. A variation of an AR-!5 assault-style rifle was among the six firearms authorities found near the shooter's body after he used one of the weapons to take his own life.

The sheriff‘s Facebook link, suggesting he was a “Sandy Hooker truther,” was taken down last week after several media outlets reported on that.

The sheriff also has vowed not to utter the name of the shooter, Christopher Harper Mercer, who was armed with six guns, extra ammunition, magazines and body armor when he shot and killed nine people. He took his own life when the sheriff’s deputies moved in.

Investigators found an additional eight firearms at an apartment nearby where the 26-year-old shooter, suffering from autism and mental health issues, lived with his mother, an avowed gun enthusiast, according to various media accounts.

The Roseburg massacre was the 45th school shooting in the United States this year and the 142nd since December 2012, when Adam Lanza fatally shot 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.