In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, there have been tons of news stories generated. Most don't deal with firearms, though, so we haven't touched on them all that much.

But the stories out of Okeechobee, Florida are a notable exception.

They say it was a mistake, but the police chief signed an order--based on what the city council passed--that banned gun sales for a time in the lead-up to Helene making landfall.

Since then, officials have decried people being upset by their actions, even claiming there have been death threats.

Only, there's reason to be skeptical of that claim.

The good chief, they claimed, was receiving death threats that were directed toward him and his family for signing the illegal ordinance, which Okeechobee’s five-member city council unanimously passed. Most of the “noise” as the threats was called, came from persons living outside city limits. Hagan, officials claimed, needed to take time off to deal with the threats.

The police chief went completely incommunicado. He did not respond to calls, emails or messages left with his staff seeking to understand why he violated his oath of office by signing an illegal ordinance, which violated both the U.S. Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Florida. The Second Amendment Foundation had to file a public records request just to get Hagan’s cell phone number, which he has yet to answer.

To understand whether the threats were real or perhaps a convenient excuse to keep the chief from having to answer uncomfortable and possibly career-ending questions, the Second Amendment Foundation made a second public records request seeking “copies of every police report made in response to threats received by Chief Donald Hagan and/or his family … and copies of any correspondence sent to FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement), the FBI or any other law enforcement agency, asking them to investigate the threats received by Chief Donald Hagan and/or his family.”

On Monday, Okeechobee city clerk, Lane Earnest-Gamiotea, emailed a one-sentence response to SAF’s second public records request: “There are no responsive documents as requested,” she wrote.

In other words, there were no reports filed.

Now, if the threats were serious enough for Hagan to drop off the face of the planet, why weren't reports filed at an absolute minimum?

There are two reasons I can think of why no reports would be filed.

The first is that the threats lacked any real substance. Maybe they had threatening language, but they were from well outside the area and therefore weren't a viable threat of violence.

Second, we have the possibility that absolutely no death threats were made at all.

I'm inclined to believe the second one, because if there were actual threats, even if they weren't viable threats, they'd likely file reports just to cover their posteriors.

And if there were no threats at all, then all we've had are outright lies as a means to cover their butts. 

I'm willing to accept they made a mistake with the initial ordinance. If they'd just owned up, corrected it, and dealt straight from the start, I could accept that. I could also accept them clamming up when the subject of a lawsuit came up. 

But lying to cover your butts isn't right and I pray they have to justify that crap in court.