PA School Board Member Who Threatened To Shoot The Unmasked Resigns

Earlier this week we told you about a doctor and school board member in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania who vented online about shooting anyone who got closer than six feet from her without wearing a mask. After Dr. Jennifer Rager-Kay’s Facebook post started getting attention in the community, she issued a sanctimonious and self-serving “apology” and vowed to remain on the local school board, despite growing calls for her to resign.

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 “I would like to publicly apologize to anyone offended by my recent post regarding the hypocrisy of those who refuse to wear face masks yet walk around openly carrying guns.

“I am in a profession where the threat of someone approaching me not wearing a mask while in the midst of a pandemic is equivalent to the threat against my life. Just as it would be if they approached me with their gun drawn and pointed at me.

Rager-Kay must have been shocked that her non-apology went over about as well as her original comments, but the storm of criticism failed to blow over after her statement, and now the doctor is out.

A Selinsgrove school board member and former Democratic state house nominee is resigning two days after a controversial Facebook post saying she’d shoot anyone who came within six feet of her or her family without a mask. On her Facebook page, Dr. Jennifer Rager-Kay announced Wednesday she sent a letter of resignation to the board after receiving threats ‘against her personal and professional well-being.’

She says her husband has also resigned effective immediately as Snyder County Chief Public Defender.

Even now, Rager-Kay can’t take responsibility for her own words, and in her self-serving resignation letter she continues to blame others for their response to her idiotic statement.

This private social media post, that Snyder County Commissioner Joe Kantz elected to capture and share, has confirmed the state of affairs that prompted me to post it in the first place. Our society is so divided and entrenched with the “you vs. me” selfish mentality, that we fail to recognize the level of hypocrisy this represents. Someone approaching me or my family not wearing a mask while in the midst of a pandemic, and refusing to back off if asked, represents a potentially deadly threat. Those who carry their rifles to rallies and protests speak so passionately about the right to personal defense, are the same ones now attacking me for boldly asserting that I would meet a deadly threat with deadly force. So why am I being crucified for practicing the same rights given by the Second Amendment, Stand Your Ground Law, and the Castle Doctrine?

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Good lord, lady. You’re not being “crucified” for asserting that you would meet a deadly threat with deadly force, and if you really believe that you are, go talk to your local District Attorney and see what they think. In fact, your husband was, until quite recently apparently, the Snyder County Public Defender. Why don’t you run your legal theory by him?

Rager-Kay confuses “a potentially deadly threat” with an actual immediate threat to life. Pulling out your gun over a potentially deadly threat will likely land you in jail, unlike acting in self-defense when your life is actually threatened. I’ve written before about wearing a mask, and why I think it’s consistent for those who carry a firearm in self-defense to also mask up in public to defend against the coronavirus, but when I run across an unmasked shopper in the grocery store I don’t freak out on them or whip out my gun to warn them away, both because the odds are that the unmasked shopper doesn’t have the coronavirus and poses no threat of infection to me or my family, and more importantly, that would be a completely insane and illegal overreaction.

After complaining about her political crucifixion, Rager-Kay then points the finger at the local critics who demanded her resignation.

Several of those criticizing me publicly are also demanding my resignation from the school board, including Commissioner Kantz, Gerald and Amy Stauffer, Todd Shimko and Boyd Martin. And while their comments are accusatory, and many others threatening, they do not get credit for my decision to resign. After spending a significant time praying and discussing with my husband, my ultimate decision is ironically the same reason I ran for school board, my family. No amount of inequity or injustice is worth the risk to my family and my profession. And if I must serve as the scapegoat to call attention to the extreme level of hatred and ignorance that exists and continues to pervade our community in attempt for reconciliation, I will gladly accept that burden. I can only apologize to those who have supported me and may share in my disappointment.

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This is some serious delusion right here. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Actually, it’s so over-the-top that it’s still funny to me. Obviously threatening Rager-Kay isn’t appropriate, and any serious threats should be investigated and prosecuted if actionable, but she also simply can’t admit that the whole reason people are upset at her is because of her unhinged threats. If there was an Olympic event for avoiding responsibility, Rager-Kay would be a gold medal favorite. Of course, she’d probably bail on the event because there would be too many people in the stands not wearing masks, but if she actually competed, I think she’d bring home the gold.

Rager-Kay still refuses to acknowledge or is truly incapable of understanding that all of this could have been avoided if she had simply said something like this:

“Like most of us have done at one time or another, I said something in the heat of the moment on social media that was utterly stupid and completely indefensible. I disagree vehemently with those who don’t wear masks in public, because I believe they are putting all of us at a greater risk of contracting the coronavirus, but comparing an unmasked shopper with a home invader or an armed robber is ridiculous, and I regret letting my emotions get ahead of my rationality. I’m truly sorry for comment, and I hope that the parents, students, and staff I serve as a school board member will accept my apology.”

That’s it. That’s all she had to say. Instead, Rager-Kay made herself out to be even more of an insufferable ass with every additional comment, culminating in her over-the-top resignation letter declaring herself to be a martyr to “hatred and ignorance.” She said she would shoot people who approached her without wearing a mask, and now she’s portraying herself as a champion of reconciliation, love, and wisdom while blaming everyone around her for her own stupid mistake.

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Rager-Kay says she’s a gun owner, but I can’t help but wonder why she’d want to ever pick up a firearm. Gun ownership is all about personal responsibility, and the doctor has demonstrated she’s clearly just as terrified about accepting personal responsibility for her actions as she is about catching the coronavirus from the unmasked masses. At the very least, she could use some range time and firearms instruction on how to be safe and responsible with a firearm. It’s just a shame there aren’t any classes that could teach her how not to be a raging narcissist as well.

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