Culpeper County, Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins has vowed to name thousands of of Virginia residents “reserve deputies” in order to ensure that a potential gun, magazine, and suppressor ban from Gov. Ralph Northam won’t turn them into criminals for keeping their lawfully possessed arms. Now the sheriff is taking the first steps towards implementing that plan by asking for current and retired law enforcement officers to serve as “voluntary background investigators” to help process what Jenkins believes will be thousands of applications from gun owners.

The sheriff plans to recruit the volunteer deputies, “In preparation for the potential passage of unconstitutional gun restrictions that ban the ownership of ‘assault weapons’ and high capacity ‘magazines’ in the 2021 Virginia General Assembly session.”

Sworn-in law enforcement would presumably be immune from any new gun restrictions.

The sheriff in his post said he is not now accepting applications for the volunteer deputies he plans to amass, only for the background investigators to screen them following outcome of next year’s General Assembly session.

“We appreciate the many thousands of commitments already received from across Virginia to serve. Please continue to monitor our Facebook page and website for information about when those applications will be accepted,” the sheriff posted.

On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, Sheriff Scott Jenkins sits down with me to talk about some of the details of his plan, including the fact that Culpeper County residents aren’t the only ones who’ll be eligible to become a reserve deputy. Jenkins tells me that while residents will go to the front of the line when they apply for the position, legal gun owners from throughout the state will be able to become a reserve deputy, which presumably would place them outside of the reach of Northam’s proposed gun ban.

Jenkins also says that he’s heard from a number of other sheriffs in Virginia and several other states who are interested in following suit. The sheriff declared that gun control advocates from the governor on down need to realize that Second Amendment defenders will fight their anti-gun agenda with all legal means, including using the powers vested in sheriffs to  both use their discretion in enforcing the law and in determining who exactly is a member of law enforcement.

With Virginia’s legislature scheduled to return to Richmond for a special session next month, it’s likely that HB961, Gov. Northam’s gun, magazine, and suppressor ban will be once again brought up by lawmakers. I’m also hearing that at least one of the four Democrat state senators who voted against Northam’s gun ban is circulating his own version of an “assault weapons ban,” though I haven’t been able to take a look at the draft legislation myself. Still, it seems likely that Democrats are going to use the special session to try to get a gun ban over the finish line, even if in doing so they ensure that Virginia gun owners will be out in force on Election Day in November.

If that gun ban does end up passing in the General Assembly in a few weeks, it will also guarantee that Culpeper County sees a surge in the number of reserve sheriff’s deputies, and I expect some other sheriffs around the state would quickly follow suit, though with Democrats in the state having already proven themselves willing to target sheriffs with political retribution for any defiance regarding their gun control agenda, some sheriffs may be reluctant to take the public stand that we’ve seen from Sheriff Scott Jenkins.

It’s a great interview, so be sure to check out the entire conversation in the video window above, and stick around afterwards for even more 2A coverage from around the country. As always, thanks for watching, listening, and spreading the word!