An Alabama County commissioner is taking heat for his refusal to lower flags to half-staff to honor the Orlando shooting victims, but he is standing by his decision.
Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey wrote a Facebook post Monday explaining his decision not to lower the flags in the county. He says lowering the flag for a mass shooting or terrorist event is inconsistent with the U.S. flag code, which states that the flag should be lowered on Memorial Day and to mark the deaths of "principal government leaders."
Dorsey offers a second reason for refusing to lower the flag. He says that when the flag is at half-staff, it symbolizes that the country’s head is “figuratively held low,” and he is not willing to hang his head because of a terrorist attack.
Baldwin County did not lower its flags after the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino for the same reasons, according to Dorsey.
In his Facebook post, Dorsey offers his condolences to the Orlando shooting victims and their families, saying his “soul aches for the families of the innocents killed.”
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