Column on Sheriff Gates Came as Breath of Fresh Air

Re Brad Gates verdict: There shouldn’t be any fuss about Brad Gates having to pay damages out of his own pocket. Those who have supported him all these years will take up a collection for him. Hey, they can sell their guns.

But of a more serious note, perhaps it is time for Sheriff Gates to resign, to take the honorable course of action instead of relying upon his well-entrenched constituency to promote his “I was just doing what was best for Orange County” routine, and vilify the verdict (see Supervisor Roger R. Stanton) as being “outrageous.” (It always is when it doesn’t go their way, isn’t it? Such complacency!)

You see, the point that must finally be addressed is that Sheriff Gates has only done what’s right for a selected portion of Orange County, regardless of the constitutional dimensions of his actions.

In its statement, the Sheriff’s Department asked if perhaps the jury wanted the department to be more “liberal” in the handling of concealed weapons permits, a response that illuminates the attitude of the department, a reflection of its leadership.

The jury only wanted the sheriff to follow the Constitution. Sheriff Gates wanted (perhaps finally had to have) his day in court, and a jury unanimously found him in violation of the Constitution he took an oath to protect.

The players of this lawsuit are not the issue. The Constitution, which perhaps Sheriff Gates and the Board of Supervisors should read, is precisely the point.

The sheriff should step down, or the community, if it has even a faint heartbeat of the morality of law and order it so vehemently espouses, should initiate steps to have him removed from office.

BEN EBEN, Newport Beach