Hartford's pickle-fingered pistolero has struck...again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8AsrpP-vxQ&t=793s
https://youtu.be/i8AsrpP-vxQ?t=793
https://youtu.be/i8AsrpP-vxQ
Hartford, Wisconsin residents face a truly idiotic peril: the ham-handed mayor and his slippery sidearm.
The open secret in this small Wisconsin city is that Mayor Tim Michalak and his handgun have parted company on more than one occasion.
What remains secret however, is why no one in Hartford questions the sheer stupidity of normalizing public gun fumbles by elected officials. This has happened at least twice, both of those times at meetings where government business is conducted! And yes, these are public meetings where Aldermen and members of the public are “free” to duck behind chairs or neighbors when the mayor, whether in his official capacity or not, makes a motion. Any motion.
This fool is a danger to the people he is supposed to serve.
The October 26th Common Council meeting in Hartford, Wisconsin began normally enough. Nine minutes into the meeting, Michalak begins reciting a proclamation to honor a volunteer arborist. This portion of the meeting will conclude with the presentation of a ceremonial key to the city. After finishing his remarks, around 13:10, Michalak rises, walks over to a podium where the recipient is standing, and extends his hand for a handshake. The microphone captures a dull thump.
This thump is the sound of Mayor Michalak's galloping Glock, which has just hit the floor. The poorly secured semiautomatic has either fallen out of his jacket pocket, or it was “clipped” to his belt and slipped off. In the video you can see a dark object fall just before you hear a thump.
The microphone then captures a guffaw. “He dropped his gun!” says an off-camera voice. The words are uttered in a breathless wheeze because the speaker is laughing. This voice probably belongs to one of the Aldermen. Each of them has his own mic.
Michalak mumbles, “I'm always dropping things,” as he bends over to pick up his courage and stuff it into his pocket. “Okay, um, the key...” he continues, as if dropping a loaded weapon in a room full of people, a target-rich environment, somehow equates to dropping a cellphone or a wallet.
Well, it does...nowadays...in Hartford, Wisconsin, the “Duck-and-Cover City.”
And well aware that his gun-fail is being recorded, Mayor Gunfumble isn't done trying to smooth it over. As he and the arborist (who is stunned by what he has just witnessed) move to a spot where they can be photographed, Michalak tries to make light of his idiotic and reckless habit. “See, this really does go off with a bang.” he chortles.
There, all better now.
Public safety, anyone?
Elected officials here weren't always such idiots. Nor does Hartford have a “tradition” of elected officials displaying such blatant disregard for public safety.
How did public service here sink to such a low level of respect for the public? With every gun fumble, Michalak mocks the trust of the citizens who elected him. Why, you ask, does he distrust his neighbors to this degree? And strictly speaking, his mistreatment of a sidearm isn’t “concealed carry” if he can do neither. And he refuses to do either one. His handgun is neither concealed, nor is it safely carried. It’s this harebrain’s hot potato. When he demonstrates his signature move, the unforced fumble, there’s no guarantee he’ll be the first person to pick it up. Somebody even less capable of safely handling a handgun could beat him to it. Comforting thought.
How is this guy going to “protect” himself when he is subject to fits of involuntary gun juggling? Is he just advertising the fact that he is packing? Worse, does he entertain the whopping conceit that he is capable of protecting bystanders?
Ah, wait. This is subconscious sabotage. Michalak is at the mercy of his giggling Id. “Oooops!” it says as it induces a spasm. Then it roars with laughter while his ego deflates in shame. Or...is this just a signal from the mayor’s Inner Child? “Enough of this grownup stuff! Time for a pick-up game of Glock Hockey!”
Lord, protect us. This so-called public servant is a public menace.
There was public debate on the topic of allowing guns into various public buildings and at public events in Hartford. Now try to imagine the mayor rising, with righteous fervor, to insist on his “right” to send someone to Jesus before someone sends him to Jesus.
Uh...yeah. Pause for face palm. That's just one example of the “caliber” of the arguments Mayor Gunfumble mustered to clothe his cowardice. Take what comfort you can, sane residents of Hartford, in knowing that Michalak will never meet Jesus in the afterlife.
In this Brave New right-wing dystopia, Hartford, Wisconsin, public gun juggling by public officials in the presence of taxpaying public targets is not viewed as a public hazard. No accidental discharge? No maimed taxpayer? Laugh it off and move on. No epic dysfunction to see here. It’s just Mayor Michalak, spicing up a public meeting with a bit of Russian Roulette.
To make it all the more absurd, a Hartford Police officer is present at Common Council meetings. Yup, a trained professional. Someone who keeps his or her firearm where it belongs, securely, and is trained to know when, if ever, he or she should draw the weapon. That professional is present to protect everyone in attendance, even the reckless gunflingers.
A police officer receives formal training in threat assessment. A police officer will instinctively look downrange, look past a threat, to see if bystanders behind the threat will be placed in danger. A police officer always, always, retains complete control of his or her sidearm. The Mayor? None of the above.
Mayor Michalak shows a callous disregard for competent concealed carry. That's a callous disregard for public safety. But that's because he holds himself to a different standard. Why is that? And Hartford's right-wingers enable that hypocrisy.
Hartford's unholstered hero does not make himself, or anyone else, safer by haphazardly packing heat. The last thing this city needs is a loose gun. What Michalak and his posse do need is therapy. It's time for him to take a good, hard, honest, unflinching look at his irrational fears. Time to grow into a responsible, rational adult. He needs help taking the next steps. Because the last thing he wants, even though he is not capable of grasping it right now, is to earn the nickname “Mayor Manslaughter.”
Postscript: The owners of local media outlets are far too politically biased, i.e., far too right-wing, to report such an embarrassing and public display of incompetence and recklessness, especially when the perpetrator, a public official, is so “Red.” Shame on these enablers and cowards. They do the public a disservice by ignoring this public fiasco...for the second time.