Alabama Judge Arrested for Pulling Gun During Argument Outside City Building

Some states have special rules for special people.

Judges, police, politicians, and others sometimes get the “some animals are more equal than others” treatment when it comes to gun rights. I don’t have a problem with them being able to carry in certain places, mind you, I’m just bothered by the fact that the rest of us aren’t.

Part of the problem is that these same folks are people. They can screw up, cross the line, or whatever you want to call it, just like anyone else can, so why do they get special treatment?

And I’ve got some evidence of that. 

It seems a judge in Alabama was arrested after she pulled her gun out on city property.

A Tarrant city judge was arrested Friday morning after pulling out a gun on city property.

Tanilya Lanice Jackson posted bail hours later for the charge of possession of a firearm in certain places.

Jackson was seen on camera pulling out a gun in front of the municipal court during what police said was an argument.

…

Sgt. Cynthia Morrow said that’s when Jackson walked out of the building and pulled a gun out of her purse. In the video, you can hear another voice calling Jackson a derogatory term.

“She pulled a gun out of her purse, and she’s not allowed to have weapons inside the building,” Morrow said. “There are signs that are posted—code violations from the state of Alabama that are posted—throughout the building where no one is supposed to have weapons inside the building, except for police officers of course.”

And my understanding is that the police officers in question are those who are exercising their duties as police officers, which is one case where I won’t lose sleep over them being the exception. Granted, my understanding could be wrong, but still…

Now, as for Judge Jackson, she had a firearm inside the building despite the prohibition. As a judge, one would think she’s aware of this fact to some degree or another. 

I wonder if the courthouse has metal detectors. If so, employees can often bypass them, so it wouldn’t be difficult to bring a gun in despite their presence if that’s the case, but it would serve as a stark reminder that they’re prohibited.

There are a number of questions remaining, such as just why she felt she needed to draw a gun over an argument. Then again, if this was someone who was taking issue with her as a judge, she might have been concerned that it was going to escalate.

Then again, drawing a gun because someone is jawing at you is what we in the business call “an escalation.”

My guess is that this will end up with a slap on the wrist because, well, she’s a judge. That’s unfortunately how a lot of this works, and that’s assuming the charges aren’t dropped rather quietly down the road.

You or I wouldn’t get that level of grace, but we’re not judges.

Well, most of you aren’t. I’m just judgmental, which is different.

Anywho, I’ll be keeping an eye out for any updates to this, including charges for brandishing a gun in public or anything of the like.