Sean C. Morgan
Linn County Sheriff Mueller never expected the whirlwind after writing a letter last week explaining to Vice President Joe Biden that his agency would not enforce any regulation offending the constitutional rights of Linn County’s citizens, specifically referring to their right to bear arms.
“We did not see this coming,” Mueller said. He posted the letter to Facebook Jan. 15 to reach local people and “let them know we’re not going to kick in the door and take their guns.
“As soon as we put that thing on Facebook, it just took off.”
Facebook users started sharing it, Mueller said, and the counters started ratcheting upward. As of Saturday, it had a reach of more than 3 million, including people seeing it and people talking about it. As of Monday, the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page had increased from a couple of hundred likes to more than 13,000. The letter had been shared more than 57,000 times and liked by nearly 50,000. It also went out over Twitter.
“It looked like the national debt ticker,” Mueller said. “It sure got a lot of people talking.”
Since then, sheriffs around the state, up to 13 as of Saturday, and nation have sent similar letters, Mueller said; and with widespread media coverage, his e-mail inbox and voicemail have been inundated.
The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, Mueller said, adding that out of every 200 good things someone has to say about the letter, there are “maybe three” negative.
The decision to write a letter was mostly for the benefit of Linn County citizens, Mueller said. “My deputies and I were getting quite a few questions.”
There hadn’t been a lot of information from Biden’s committee, which was created to come up with solutions to gun violence in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting in December.
“We just wanted to let people know their Second Amendment rights are protected,” Mueller said. “This is kind of a boiling point thing. People take it seriously.”
He figured he needed to get the letter done and out, he said. Realizing that Biden was heading up a committee on firearms, he later decided to address the letter to Biden.
“I hope it has impact at the state and federal level as well,” Mueller said. It’s turned into much more than letting the citizens of Linn County know where he stands.
“I never intended to be the voice, but if I’m the person, that’s a good thing and I’m definitely proud to do it,” Mueller said. He urged Linn County residents to join him in speaking up, and do it with civility.
“Let your congressmen and elected officials know how you feel,” Mueller said. “Don’t just worry about it. Be an active participant. Maybe we have an opportunity to make a difference. I just hope it causes some discussion.”
He worries about the long-term impacts of limiting gun rights.
“They seem to be willing to take away the Second Amendment,” he said. “What’s next?”
He doesn’t see often-proposed “assault” weapon bans and limiting magazine sizes as a serious solution to gun violence or saving the lives of children.
“If they were really serious,” Mueller said, then they would be talking about traffic deaths. More than 10,000 are killed annually in motor vehicle crashes attributed to speed. Of those 3,500 were children.
The tipping point with vehicle speed and fatalities is 45 mph, he said. If the politicians were serious about saving the lives of children, they would require governors on all cars to keep speeds below 45 mph.
With all of that, Oregon does need to make some changes, he said. “Oregon needs to fix the mental healthcare piece.”
In the 1990s, the state shut down multiple mental institutions, Mueller said. It still has mental hospitals but not the capacity it had.
“Police officer holds, it’s difficult,” Mueller said. “We just don’t have that tool here in Oregon any more.”
Police officer holds are used to take individuals who may have mental issues into custody for evaluation. They are now handled by regular hospitals.