Civil Liberties
Paul Burch: Alabama’s Barney Fife on a Power Trip, Targeting Law-Abiding Citizens
By AAF | Sep 5, 2024
Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch seems to have taken a page out of Barney Fife’s playbook, wielding his badge with an overzealous enthusiasm to strip law-abiding citizens of their constitutional rights.
Burch, who recently voiced his support for legislation that would ban adults between the ages of 18 and 21 from carrying a concealed weapon for self-defense, is now lobbying the Alabama Legislature to roll back the state’s permitless carry law.
Burch’s proposals are not just misguided—they are downright dangerous. In a world where violent crime is on the rise and where law-abiding citizens are increasingly at risk, the Sheriff’s focus on disarming those who have done nothing wrong is nothing short of a power trip.
Rather than standing up for the rights of the people he’s sworn to protect, Burch seems intent on punishing them, all in the name of “safety.”
But whose safety is Burch really concerned with? If he took a moment to look beyond his own county line, he would see a stark contrast between states that respect their citizens’ right to bear arms and those that don’t.
In states like Florida, where permitless carry laws are in place, crime rates are actually declining. Law-abiding citizens, empowered to protect themselves, act as a deterrent to would-be criminals.
Meanwhile, in places like Chicago and California, where gun control laws are strict and oppressive, crime rates are reaching record highs. The evidence is clear: more gun control leads to more crime, not less.
Yet Burch, like too many other officials who fancy themselves as protectors of public safety, ignores these facts. Instead, he opts to push for more restrictions, more limitations, and more control over the very people who pose no threat to society.
It’s the classic approach of a power-hungry bureaucrat: focus on the easy targets—law-abiding citizens—while real criminals go unchecked.
Sheriff Burch fails to understand that criminals do not follow laws by their very nature. They don’t apply for permits and certainly don’t care whether carrying a concealed weapon is legal. The only people affected by Burch’s proposed restrictions are those who follow the law.
By making it harder for them to protect themselves, Burch effectively makes it easier for criminals to operate with impunity.
If the Sheriff were genuinely concerned about public safety, he would focus on holding criminals accountable rather than punishing law-abiding citizens.
He might take a look at the broken justice system that lets violent offenders back on the streets with little more than a slap on the wrist. He should advocate for policies that deter crime rather than disarm those who simply want to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense.
But that would require Sheriff Burch to relinquish his desire for control, stop acting like a modern-day Barney Fife on a power trip, and start respecting the rights of the people he serves.
Until he does, his efforts to push for more gun control should be seen for what they are: a misguided, overreaching attempt to infringe upon the very freedoms that make our country great.
The last time an Alabama Republican caught the gun control bug and began working to upend the Constitutional Carry law, American Action Fund leapt into action, mobilizing the grassroots to crush that effort.
If lawmakers decide to join Burch in his anti-gun crusade, they can be sure they will meet fierce resistance from Alabamians who cherish the right to keep and bear arms.
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