STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — All he wanted to do was go to work.
At 8 a.m. Monday morning, Judge Joseph J. Bruzzese Jr. was walking down a narrow alley in the shadow of the Jefferson County Courthouse when a man got out of his car in a nearby bank parking lot and opened fire.
Police say Bruzzese returned fire, and a nearby probation officer stepped in and ultimately killed the suspect. Another man who was with the attacker, sitting in the car with him, was arrested.
The majestic Jefferson County Courthouse on Market Street stood quiet for the rest of the day, two Corinthian columns supporting a pediment with a statue of Lady Justice standing brightly and looking out over a city of some 18,000 souls.
Considering the strange tint of the sky caused by the eclipse, the sight was unsettling.
During an emotional news conference hours later, Jefferson County Sheriff Fred J. Abdalla told reporters that Bruzzese pulled out a gun and fired at least five shots at the alleged shooter.
“This guy was after our judge,” Abdalla said, his voice shaking and tears welling up in his eyes. “It just hurts. The first thing on Monday morning is a judge gets shot in front of the courthouse. … It was an ambush and an attempted assassination of our judge.”
Thank God Bruzzese was armed; thank God he had a concealed carry permit. If he hadn’t, Abdalla likely would have held a press conference about the judge’s tragic ending.
The close call is eerily reminiscent of the ambush shooting earlier this summer in suburban Virginia that killed House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who targeted and opened fire on dozens of GOP congressmen and two senators at a congressional baseball game.
The irony is that if Scalise hadn’t been there, our country would have been in the midst of a massacre. Because of his position as Majority Whip, the Capitol Police were armed with him. The security guards saved the lives of his House colleagues and two senators.
Unlike the judge, none of the cabinet members, most of whom have concealed carry permits in their districts, were carrying weapons that day because concealed carry is not allowed in Washington (with a few infrequent exceptions) and they had to travel from their districts to Virginia (where concealed carry is allowed) to practice.
Concealed carry permit holders are one of the most law-abiding demographic groups of Americans, according to data provided by the Crime Prevention Research Center. Yet the debate over guns and concealed carry permits is one of the most heated in our country.
Guns have become a politically contentious issue over the past decade, with bipartisan support for Second Amendment rights once overwhelmingly bipartisan, and a shift to the left that began with the presidency of Barack Obama.
While it never hurt Obama in the election, Democrats who owned guns liked him personally, and those same Democrats punished all of his lawmakers for his attempts to enact gun control by voting Republican in local elections.
The question is: What will they do now? For eight years, Republicans have been on the defensive on guns. Now they are on the offensive. But no one knows whether Democrats want to take a stand again on the Second Amendment.
“This is a new opportunity for Democrats to address the Second Amendment. Eight years ago, they controlled Congress and had a significant pro-gun wing, a minority wing, but still a wing,” said Brad Todd, a Republican strategist and founding partner of OnMessage Inc. “They’re not going to win back Congress by being the anti-gun party.”
The sheriff said at a news conference that years ago he insisted Bruzzese carry a gun for protection. Why? Because of all the “crazies” across the country.
Thank God he did.
