Sheriffs and peace officers from across the country will meet with supporters this Friday and Saturday at a national convention focused on restoring constitutional rule in the United States. The organization, Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) seeks to equip sheriffs, police officers and public officials with the necessary information and public support to carry out their duties in accordance with their oaths of office. The convention will be held on Friday and Saturday, May 31 - June 1, at the Ameristar Hotel and Casino, St. Charles. Registration will begin at 7 a.m. Richard Mack, a former sheriff from Arizona, will host the convention with assistance from Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison, Lincoln County Sheriff John Cottle, Old Monroe Police Chief Larry Kirk, Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle and Osage County Sheriff Michael Dixon. The convention is free to all sheriffs, peace officers, local officials and county commissioners. The public may attend for an admission fee. The CSPOA was founded when Mack decided to bring the results of his successful Supreme Court decision into everyday practice among sheriffs and peace officers across the nation. The court battle began when Mack, then sheriff of Graham County, Ariz., refused to comply with mandates from the Clinton Administration to enforce the Brady Bill. “This law literally forced each sheriff to become a pawn for the federal government and to do their bidding to promote gun control within our jurisdictions," Mack said. "Even more astounding was the fact that no funds were allocated for us to do this work and the Brady Act contained a provision to arrest us if we failed to comply.” Mack sued the federal government and was joined in the lawsuit by a number of other sheriffs from across the nation. The resulting Supreme Court ruling affirmed that the federal government could not commandeer state or county officers for federal bidding, stating at least three times that the states were “not subject to federal direction.” During the conference, local officials will be educated about how much power the local sheriff has over the affairs of his county. “We are going to train them all to understand and enforce the constitutionally protected rights of the people they serve, with an emphasis on state sovereignty and local autonomy," Mack said. A growing number of sheriffs and peace officers are signing a declaration on the CSPOA web site stating that they will not enforce federally mandated firearm registrations or seizures in their jurisdictions. To date, over 450 sheriffs and 18 state sheriff's associations have signed the pledge.