Second Major California Sheriff Openly Rebels Against Newsom Lockdown

Just a day after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told California Governor Gavin Newsom that his department won't be "blackmailed, bullied or used as muscle" against residents during the pandemic, The Epoch Times reports that Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes announced that deputies would not enforce the regional stay-at-home order that was scheduled to go into effect Dec. 6 throughout Southern California.

“Compliance with health orders is a matter of personal responsibility and not a matter of law enforcement,” Barnes said in a Dec. 5 news release.

“Orange County Sheriff’s deputies will not be dispatched to, or respond to, calls for service to enforce compliance with face coverings, social gatherings, or stay-at-home orders only.”

It is not the first time the sheriff has declared deputies would not enforce a state order over coronavirus restrictions. When Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a curfew in November for all California counties in the purple tier amid climbing coronavirus cases, Barnes said deputies would not be enforcing that order either.