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Alabama county official refuses to lower flags for Orlando shooting victims

Runners pass under the flags flying at half-staff around the Washington Monument at daybreak in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2016. The flags were ordered to half-staff by President Barack Obama to honor the shooting  victims. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. — 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.”

Once again I have to copy this post regarding lowering the flags because another follower of Islam decided to shoot up a...

Posted by Tucker Dorsey on Monday, June 13, 2016
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