Tommy, Joshua, Juliana, James and Deana.
We love them. We will miss them. We will be there for their families.
While we may be asking how we can get through this, the answer is together. pic.twitter.com/vXTMX3M6c3
— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) April 11, 2023
Yesterday an employee of the Old South Bank in Louisville, Kentucky opened fire in the bank, killing five and wounding eight more. The shooter was shot and killed by police. The killer, Connor Sturgeon bought the AR-15 rifle he used in the shooting legally last week.
One of those killed was 63-year-old Tommy Elliott, a senior vice president of the bank, and someone Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear described as a very close friend.
“Elliott helped me build my law career,” Beshear said in the wake of the shooting, according to Fox59. “He helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad. He’s one of the people I talked to most in the world and very rarely were we talking about my job.”
Today Beshear issued the above video statement about the shooting. Note what wasn’t included in that statement. The Governor didn’t mention the firearm the killer used or call for stricter gun control laws.
As news of the shooting broke yesterday, the media, of course, wasted no time in pointing out that Kentucky’s legislature passed a Second Amendment sanctuary bill less than two weeks ago. While that largely symbolic act had absolutely no effect whatsoever on the killer’s ability to buy the gun he used, that never seems to matter. It’s too convenient a cudgel to use against pro-gun rights Republicans at a very opportune time.
Note however, that what you’re not hearing now is any criticism of Governor Beshear for conspicuously avoiding the issue of the AR-15 or gun control in general in his statement today.
Strange, that. Well, not really. Not when you know that Beshear is a Democrat. And not just a Democrat, but a Democrat Governor in a deeply red state. And also a Democrat Governor who’s in a reelection run that promises to be a very tight race.
The civilian disarmament industry and anti-gun Democrats — yes, that’s redundant — are many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. That’s why Beshear will get a pass from all but the most rabid hoplophobes for his failure to take advantage of yesterday’s shooting, using it as a convenient excuse to decry “weapons of war” or call for more gun control laws in the Bluegrass State.
If yesterday’s shooting had happened in, say, Texas, Florida or, well, Tennessee, the story would be very different. Don’t expect people like Fred Guttenberg or the Moms to drag Beshear for his current lack of zeal where gun control is concerned. It will be nothing like what Tennessee’s Republican governor is getting. And don’t expect any takeovers of the House in Frankfort with Democrats taking over the proceedings to run a gun control rally from the well of the House.
The gun control industry is far too politically savvy to savage one of their own in a place and time their best possible candidate is most vulnerable.