Really, Sheriff? Must I pack heat?
On a local radio show after the atrocity in Orlando, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims was asked what her thoughts were about ensuring the safety of the LGBTQ community in Fresno County.
Her response was boilerplate National Rifle Association lunacy: BYOG, bring your own gun to the nightclubs, churches, schools, or cafes you frequent. This brand of thinking (loosely speaking) by the chief executive of a public safety agency is evidence of a pathology.
America is a gun fight, so buck up, and all you Annies and Andys better get your guns. And, following that logic (loosely speaking) those better be AR15-type weapons, because that’s what America’s homicidal jihadists, racists, homophobes and misogynists can and do legally arm themselves with.
Foolish of me I’m sure, but I long for the day when I can support my local sheriff without having to pack heat and join the gun fight that is America.
Robert Navarro, Fresno
This story was originally published June 26, 2016 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Really, Sheriff? Must I pack heat?."