In the debate around the lawful carrying of firearms, a lot of anti-gunners take the position that we regular folks simply can’t be trusted with guns in so many places. After all, we’re far too likely to get upset and start shooting people or something.
Never mind that there’s no real evidence of that being a significant thing most of anywhere else–it has happened, but concealed carriers are the most law-abiding group on the planet–so why would it be so in those places?
Nope, they say. We can only trust the police to have guns in those places.
Yet a recent homicide in Kentucky is going to be a bit of an issue for that argument.
small eastern Kentucky community is reeling and searching for answers after a Letcher County sheriff was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Judge Kevin Mullins in his district office Thursday afternoon.
Matt Butler, commonwealth attorney for Letcher County, said the community “is completely devastated” and asked for prayers for the judge’s family.
“If you knew Letcher County, you would know that families stay tightly connected at all times and pull even more tightly during times of unspeakable tragedy like today,” he said in a statement late Thursday. “I know personally that the definition of family can extend beyond biological relation and I urge everyone to remember that our community is a safe and welcoming place.”
…
The shooting occurred shortly before 3 p.m. at the Letcher County courthouse in Whitesburg, about 217 miles southeast of Louisville. Letcher County Sheriff Shawn M. Stines, a two-term sheriff, was arrested and charged with one count of murder, Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart said.
A motive remains unclear, but Gayheart said preliminary information indicates that Stines “fatally shot Mullins following an argument inside the courthouse.”
Now, I’m pretty sure no one would say that the sheriff needs to be disarmed inside the courthouse. In fact, even in states that prohibit the carrying of firearms in courthouses, law enforcement officers such as the sheriff himself are exempt from that restriction. Why? Because cops are supposed to be more trustworthy and sheriffs are elected, which I guess makes them doubly so.
To be fair, this is a bit of an outlier. This isn’t exactly a common occurrence, in part because most people don’t murder folks, even among law enforcement.
What happened in Kentucky is a terrible tragedy, to be sure, but it’s also a reminder that the arguments against gun control are, at best, inconsistent. You and I, who have a handle on our tempers and aren’t likely to kill people over a disagreement, can’t be trusted with guns, but a sheriff who apparently didn’t have a handle on his was a different matter entirely.
This is also why so many of us have an issue with law enforcement officers being exempt from the gun control laws that govern the rest of us. Studies have shown that cops are less likely to follow the law than law-abiding concealed carry permit holders, and yet, we still can’t be trusted while law enforcement can.
To call it annoying is an understatement.
