Sen. Tim Sheldon, who's also a county commissioner in rural Mason County, told the local weekly that he felt that his well-armed constituents would dampen the effect of proposed budget cuts at the county sheriff's office.

“There is no bag limit. There’s always an open season on criminals in Mason County,” Sheldon told the Shelton-Mason County Journal. “I think that the Mason County citizens are very well aware of how to protect themselves in a situation that might need a response.

In follow-up remarks to a reporter from The Olympian, he described locals' response to any home invasion attempts as "a hot Mason County lead enema." Sheldon told The Olympian's Brad Shannon that his remarks shouldn't be construed as urging people to take the law into their own hands.

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