“It’s extremely important to emphasize that the 2nd Amendment is not conditional,” El Paso County Commissioner for District 2 Amy Lathen said. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette
The Board of County Commissioners unanimously passed parks rule changes Tuesday during its regular meeing that include tweaking the regulation that had banned open carry. The 4-0 vote came in the absence of Chairman Dennis Hisey, who left the regular meeting shortly after noon.
Hisey said moments before exiting that he was also in favor of the change to the gun rule and was confident that if he had stayed the vote would have remained unanimous. While the rule change allows open carry, it forbids the discharge of guns, fireworks or explosive device in a county park.
Each of the commissioners mentioned their oath to uphold the United States Constitution and the 2nd Amendment, which gives citizens the right to bear arms. Multiple board members also said they did not want to incriminate law-abiding citizens who simply want to defend themselves.
“We don’t get to cherry-pick what provisions of the constitution to support,” said Darryl Glenn, the District 1 representative.
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