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We’re told, repeatedly and forcefully, by many who would like to limit or eliminate civilian-owned firearms, that law enforcement officers are the only people with the knowledge, training and degree of responsibility necessary to be entrusted with carrying a gun. At which point gun owners immediately Google “Lee Paige” and hold their phones up for all to see. It’s as effective a comeback as any.

But while most law enforcement officers are well-trained and treat their firearms in a responsible manner, there will always be the exceptions that prove the rule. So our friends in the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex will have to forgive us if we choose to highlight them when they come up. Today’s example is Nye County, Nevada Sheriff Sharon Wehrly.

The sheriff had stopped for lunch at Saddle West casino after the Nye County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, she said. When she went to the bathroom, she unholstered her gun.

Because, she said, she wasn’t wearing a gun belt. When she then got a phone call, it apparently distracted her enough that she left the handgun behind when she was finished.

A Saddle West employee found the gun and gave it to management. Wehrly was without the weapon for about 10 minutes, she said.

Wehrly realized she left the gun behind when got to the casino’s cafe, she said.

The Sheriff apparently has an election coming up this fall and felt it appropriate to issue a video apology which you can see here. She noted that gun security “had always been paramount” and that she’s been a firearms instructor since she was 31 years old.

“So I understand the magnitude of my (indiscretion). This is a political year, and I understand that. But talking to non-political people, I want to tell you that I really apologize for walking away from my firearm, and that’s all I can do, is to say it was a mistake and I’m human and I ask for your forgiveness.”

Apology accepted? Maybe she should have taken TTAG’s advice?

 

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50 COMMENTS

  1. I would think the mere presence of the Weight and Feel of the Handgun would be a dead give away. If I was drunk enough, I might misplace my sidearm! But stone cold sober, never.

    • Yknow, that is actually the reason I prefer all-metal guns. I don’t consider the weight to be a problem, indeed – I find that weight on my hip to be very reassuring. If a reasonable-sized gun seems to heavy to carry then I’ll tell myself it’s a problem with the holster and make some changes until the problem lessens.

      • i cant legally carry where i live however i agree with what you say. yes the holster has to be right for the gun or it will feel even heavier. a heavier gun also helps with recoil and getting sight picture back again quickly for the follow up shot if needed. personally i would far rather carry a 4 pound deagle than any of the plastic fantastics any day of the week if i could carry.

      • Boris ‘The Blade’ Yurinov: [referring to Tommy’s gun] Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn’t work you can always hit them with it.

  2. Never answer the phone in the bathroom. Finish your business first and wash your hands. Now I trust this lady even less than I did when I read the headline. Leaving your gun in the stall is like forgetting to pull your pants up.

    • That was my first thought as well, but I have to admit that in that position there COULD be some calls you can’t delay taking.

      • Any call that can’t wait would come over a radio

        If you’re not wearing a radio… it’s not that important (i.e. you are not needed immediately)

        I am having trouble thinking of any situation that is so emergent that the sheriff of a department would need to take a phone call before pulling her pants up, unless it’s a 2 person department.

    • Exactly. Why would you feel it necessary to talk to somebody on the phone while you’re doing your business in the bathroom? 🤣

      Talk about disrespectful… And besides, do you really think that they are not going to know?

      And if the police are so busy that they might have to take an emergency call, then they need a 10 code for “Personal business”. 😉

  3. Ha! I live in Nye County. This is not the first time for her, it’s the THIRD TIME.
    There is also a report that said originally that she left, went back to the station, and sent her number 2 back for it. Now, she says she went right back.
    She’s a piece of work. Corruption has bloomed and thrived since she was elected. Spending is at all time high for new crap, while some of the NCSO card need paint desperately. Would have been perfect if Live P.D. had been with her.
    She needs to go, stat!

      • So the wannabe lieutenant-general (note small caps) is going to rendition me? Bring it on!

        I’m from the furthest of the four corners of the globe. If they want to drag me half way around the world for a perceived slight, then I’m all for it!

    • Or treat her like the Barney Fife she is. If she gets a gun at all, it remains unloaded with one round in her shirt pocket.

  4. Good ole Lee Paige. Classic video. Now Wehrly should resign, she looks a bit heavy to be working as a LEO…

  5. How F-ing distracted are you to forget your F-ing gun!

    And this idiot has a driving license? She’s going to forget on which damn side of the road to drive.

  6. If I had done the same thing, I’d have lost my license to carry and would be begging a judge for forgiveness to avoid criminal charges, not issuing apologies calculated to help my re-election run.

    It’s a point in her favor that she’s publicly apologizing…but still, no. As long as people like her can expect to get away with “little things” that would ruin people like me, I have no forgiveness or leniency to extend. Plus, she looks like Dolores Umbridge’s muggle cousin.

    Apology not accepted.

    • Here in Quartzsite, Arizona, pop. <4000, a police force numbering barely more than a dozen officers, the police chief wears five stars on his collar. Every cop is identified as "Detective" on his/her business card. I lived in Seattle for over 20 years, police force of approximately 1,300, the police chief wears three stars as l recall. Go figure…

  7. I can’t understand how someone leaves their firearm in a bathroom. I carry every day everywhere and have used thousands of public restrooms. My firearm never leaves the Kydex holster it is in and remains firmly attached over the belt and waistband of my pants regardless of whether I am pissing or taking a crap. It’s no wonder guns whined up in the wrong hands with irresponsible people like this being allowed to carry a firearm.

    • The only way I could ever see leaving it is if you take it and put it on the toiler paper dispenser to obscure it from view while you conduct your business. I usually just fold the side of my pants over it

  8. Gollee Junipers, lookee all them STARS!!!! She muss be sum big-time gen’rul er sumpin’!!

    Go git’em, grrrrrrl!!!!

  9. The downside to electing law enforcement is the same as the upside- the voters often get what they deserve.

  10. The Portland Oregon police department is a veritable treasure trove of evidence that police are somehow endowed with the wisdom and knowledge to carry a gun.
    There is the plethora of duty related shootings that would get a mere citizen prosecuted for murder.
    There is the matter of the PPB Seargent who mistook his partner for a three point or better, bull elk.
    One portland officer committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after pumping 4 rounds into his wife’s back, orphaning her newborn baby. (Note the phrase ” her newborn baby” rather than “their newborn baby.”)

    The most special case is the regrettable incident in which a Portland police officer wounded his wife in an obscenely brutal manner when he neglected to unload his 12 gauge before “playing around with it.” Responding officers who found the nude woman on a blood soaked bed with a singular entrance wound in the area of her right buttocks made no arrest because “the saw no evidence of domestic vilolence.

    My helpful suggestion that the PPB institute a program to distribute Kevlar condoms to its officers so that they can practice safe shotgun sex was not appreciated.

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