City Residents Comment on 2A Sanctuary Resolution
By David Quesenberry
Patriot Publishing
City residents addressed the Radford City Council at Monday’s meeting concerning its approval of a resolution declaring the City a Second Amendment Sanctuary.
Lee Slusher expressed her disappointment with the three Council members who supported the resolution and the manner in which the agenda was amended. She felt there was not adequate notice or advertising to the public that the issue was going to be brought up at the meeting. Slusher said “I am ashamed. I am disappointed that it was done the way it was.” She criticized Council for what she term “backdoor politics for a conversation that was so important in this country and there are very strong feelings on both sides. We were never allowed to air it.”
Lee Altieri expressed concerns over transparency. “A resolution that gets passed on behalf of Radford citizens, needs to be on the agenda and at the very least come up as new business and then tabled and allow people to come in and speak.” At the 2019 Council meeting where the issue was discussed, Alteri noted that meeting was packed and heard viewpoints from both sides.
She also questioned approving a resolution which by Council’s own admission is unenforceable and symbolic in nature. “Why should this be done” she asked, “when city and law enforcement officials must obey laws passed by the Commonwealth of Virginia?” Altieri said she was disturbed that such a symbolic measure would be approved even though it was unenforceable.
She said she felt that Council’s approval was a “knee-jerk” reaction to policies proposed by the new administration in Richmond.
In other comments before Council, Preston Beamer congratulated every Council member and Sheriff Mark Armentrout “for standing up for our right to bear arms.” “It’s a constitutional right” he said “No one is going to tell me other than the Federal Government, that I can’t bear arms.” The law enforcement community he added, did not support the proposed gun control measures.
Beamer then explained to Council that guns were needed in the city because of the level of crime. He told Council that in his neighborhood there had been drug dealers apprehended as well as a murder suspect from West Virginia. U.S. Marshalls had also been in the neighborhood concerning another investigation. “It’s not safe to go anywhere in this city without a weapon” he said, “and I’m going to tell you right now no one is coming to my house and taking any of my weapons.”
In the final comment from the public on the sanctuary amendment, Aaron Gleason commented on remarks made about transparency and “ambushing.” Gleason said there was two weeks-worth of transparency. The same resolution submitted in 2019 was, in his words “dismissed without much discussion or tabling for a later meeting” despite a standing room only crowd. That same resolution was recently shared on Facebook with multiple posts about getting public signatures on petitions before the January 23rd meeting. The Radford City Democrat’s page he said, also had a post on the resolution and was petitioning for signatures as early as February 15th some eight days prior to the Council meeting.
Concerning claims of an “ambush” of the Council, Gleason questioned how it could be an ambush when the Mayor Horton had notes in front of him on the Heller case, Justice Scalia’s decision, as well as copies of emails to legislators from 2019. Regarding Councilwoman Jessi Foster’s concerns over asking law enforcement not to enforce the law, Gleason questioned which law was to be enforced, the current laws that are compliant with the U.S and Virginia constitutions or the new proposed bills that might be signed which he described as “repugnant to both constitutions.” With respect to Mayor Horton’s concerns on the Dillion Rule and state funding, Gleason asked again which law would be obeyed. On state funding, Gleason asked if the state would reimburse Radford for its legal expenses incurred by lawsuits against the city, if the proposed laws became effective, but were later declared unconstitutional. He suggested if someone was charged with breaking a law, later found to conflict with state and federal constitutional rights, the City could be named into a civil suit and made to pay damages for a person convicted before the law was declared unconstitutional.
In the Council comments portion of the meeting, Mayor David Horton responded to some of Mr. Gleason’s concerns. He said at the time, late 2019, there were large meetings taking place on discussions of the 2nd Amendment. The Virginia Citizen’s Defense League were sending supporters to various council meetings of which Radford was one. The effort he noted was publicized for a couple of months prior to the meeting. After having 27 speakers on both sides of the issue speak, a motion was made to move forward with the 2nd Amendment sanctuary, but it died for lack of a second.
Horton said he felt the issues raised were of such importance, that the concerns needed to be shared with the City’s representatives at the state level. State representatives were called and letters prepared and sent outlining the public’s and the City’s concerns along with records of the meeting “without going down the sanctuary pathway.” As far as which laws to enforce, Horton said once laws were passed by the Commonwealth and on the books, the laws had to be upheld until they were declared unconstitutional by established processes. The same principle applied to federal laws and the federal and state supreme courts which were to be upheld as part of the Constitution.
Horton said that the reason he knew about the Heller decision and the comments of Justice Scalia and had the letter to state representatives, was that he had been approached by citizens on the gun issue before the sanctuary matter came up. The documents were part of the research he conducted personally to familiarize himself with the issue. He had nothing to do with the presentation of the resolution since he was unaware that there was going to be a motion to move forward with the sanctuary issue that evening. He did mention that Council had made an agreement at some time not to introduce motions on issues on the spur of the moment. Horton stressed the importance in making sure the citizens were prepared to discuss an issue and that the City had demonstrated its desire for transparency pointing out the livestreaming of the hearing, persons in attendance in Council Chambers, and publishing of the agenda.
In a related matter, Councilman Guy Wohlford apologized for inaccurate data he used in his presentation at the last meeting. He said that a search on-line indicated that 95 percent of jurisdictions has approved sanctuary resolutions, when further research indicated that only 46 percent had approved the resolutions. Concerning the upcoming vote on redistricting, Wohlford invited interested citizens to visit his Facebook page which had a link to Chapter 62 of the Code of Virginia regarding the redistricting commission and its work. He questioned the need for any change and urged citizens to vote against the amendment.
In other business, Council heard an update on the Fire Department from Chief Rodney Heywood. Chief Haywood reviewed the many duties of the department in addition to staffing, call volume, training, pay and benefits and the special hazards Fire/EMS employees encounter. Overall goals for the department included: restoring budgeted positions to reduce part-time and overtime strain on employees; increase pay to compete with surrounding localities and retain staff; and a vehicle replacement program. Heywood also spoke on the Western Virginia EMS Council and the services it provided in support of the City’s Fire/EMS Department.
Council also received a report from Katie Trimble of USI Insurance Services concerning the City’s employee health insurance for the next fiscal year. After her review of responses from different bidders, Trimble recommended that Anthem be chosen for medical and vision benefits and Delta Dental for dental benefits. The next step in the process will be determining the overall impact on the City budget on each individual employee.
Council recognized Radford High School golfer Hunter Crist for placing 4th in the State Finals and being named to the Virginia High School League Class 2A first Team All-State. It also approved Appropriations Ordinance 1815.33 appropriating $741,882 in state funds for the Radford Sheriff’s Office/New River Valley Community Services Crisis Intervention Team Access Center. The Center is funded entirely with state funds and requires no local funding match.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Radford City Council will be at 7:00 pm on Monday, March 23, 2026 in the Council Chambers of the Radford City Hall at 10 Robertson Street.