No Authority: Some NC Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce Governor Cooper’s Face Mask Mandate

RALEIGH – You could see it coming from a mile away. Governor Roy Cooper merely needed to get close enough to see that there were enough people on the face mask mandate bandwagon, and then hopped right on. Though there are plenty of officials that have little interest in enforcing invasive mandates that have no basis in law, merely executive edicts.

Sheriff Jimmy Thornton of Sampson County is of them. While Sheriff Thornton is encouraging constituents in his county to take the necessary precautions amid a rise in coronavirus cases, he attests to the fact that his agency enforces laws passed by the legislature, not to manage health-related decrees from the executive branch.

The Halifax County Sheriffs Office announced it would not be enforcing the mandate either. Plenty of communities across the state, especially those who’ve never had a high impact from COVID-19 will likely carry on with life as before, adjusting where they have to.

The mandate goes into effect at 5:00 PM Friday. Though, local police will not be citing individuals for not wearing masks. Besides being nearly impossible to adequately enforce, Cooper knows it’s the businesses he must target to force compliance. Enforcement at businesses is easier, and more consequential, especially for businesses that are already struggling under the oppressive weight of the myriad other edicts issued by Cooper.

Hopefully many other sheriffs find it implausible, and improper, to enforce this health-scare-compliance mandate. That is to say nothing of masks, their effectiveness, or their ease of use; it is to say everything about an executive that has overstepped his bounds so much he is becoming resistant to being constrained within them.