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Sheriff candidates stick to their guns

Gun club hosts feisty debate between Schirard, Smith

The already taut race for La Plata County Sheriff intensified Tuesday night as Deputy Sean Smith went head-to-head with Sheriff Duke Schirard on what, historically, has been Schirard’s political home turf: guns.

At a forum hosted by the Durango Gun Club at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4031, the men repeatedly attacked each other, often on personal grounds, such as their integrity.

But as turns out, on a policy level, they share a lot of ground. Both men enthusiastically own guns, agree the Second Amendment conveys to individuals the constitutional right to bear arms, look fondly on concealed-carry weapons, think 2013’s gun-control legislation is largely unenforceable and rejoice in the Tenth Amendment, which limits the powers of the federal government to only those delegated to it by the states.

Both candidates catalogued their involvement with gun groups in loving detail. Schirard ran out of time. Smith said he was a Desert Storm veteran who owned his first gun at age 10.

Schirard said he was a proud member and political donor to the National Rifle Association and its lobbying wing, the Institute for Legislative Action. Smith said he is not an NRA member because he doesn’t agreee with all of its politics.

But there were philosophical differences when it came to the role of the sheriff.

In the past, Schirard has vocalized his intention to not enforce Colorado’s new gun laws, which include mandating background checks for all gun sales and limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines to no more than 15 rounds, because, in his opinion, they violate the Constitution.

Smith said it’s the sherriff’s job to enforce all laws. If elected, Smith said he wouldn’t consider himself the final arbiter of a law’s constitutionality. He said it is legislators’ job to pass legislation, and the Constitution provides a remedy for people who object to laws legislators pass: judicial review.

Schirard touted his long history with the issue of guns in La Plata County, saying in the 1980s, he was issuing concealed-carry permits when no one else would.

Since his career began 40 years ago, Schirard said he has tried to find a place for law enforcement to train, to no avail. In the meantime, he depended on the graciousness of the Durango Gun Club.

Smith agreed that it is urgent that law-enforcement officers find a new facility where they can train. He proposed building a new, bigger facility.

Smith said Schirard promised to do something about the range the last time he ran.

“Four years later, nothing has been done,” he said.

Smith told the crowd, “You need me.” He said Schirard had “destroyed his working relationship with the other people in this community he has to work with to get something done on your behalf,” referring to an unguarded email in which Schirard denounced Durango as overtaken by “liberal, Democratic, gun-hating, pot-loving, abortionist, Obama-supporting” socialists.

Some exchanges were testy.

Schirard accused Smith of misrepresenting the nature of Smith’s trip to Denver last year, when Smith participated in gun-control hearings as a delegate of the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office.

Schirard said Smith, who talks often about the trip on the campaign trail, had actually been planning to be in Denver at that time anyway, and asked if he could stop by the hearings, and Schirard assented reluctantly because he wanted someone wearing the sheriff’s office uniform in the room.

Smith brandished reimbursement forms for his hotel and the like, and an email from Undersheriff David Griggs, by way of rebuttal.

Smith invited everyone to consult the documentation. He said when he asked for permission to attend the hearings, he and Griggs sought Schirard out in his office.

“Frankly, he was at the pawn shop. We had to conference call him in,” Smith said.

There were some theatrical flourishes.

Schirard told the room he had “done everything in my power as sheriff to make sure nobody infringes on Second Amendment rights,” and there were “stark differences between me and my opponent.”

He announced that there was “a man in the room tonight” who would swear that Smith once told him something to the effect that only law enforcement and the military should have guns. This avowal caused Smith’s wife, Tracy, to laugh, at which point the mystery man stood up and began addressing Smith directly – interrupting the entire format.

The moderator asked the man to sit down and thanked him for his enthusiasm.

Smith said the man’s allegation was ridiculous. He denied ever saying such a thing, and said to his knowledge, the only conversation he had ever had with Jerry Rodri, La Plata County jail kitchen director, was about whether he should enroll his kids in Rodri’s gun-safety class.

Smith accused Rodri of fabricating the tale because of his “close relationship” with Schirard.

cmcallister@durangoherald.com

Gun Club debate questions (PDF)



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