By John Hood
RALEIGH — When officers from the U.S. Marshal Service, the N.C. Department of Adult Correction, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and other agencies approached a home in eastern Charlotte on April 29, their purpose was to serve warrants on a fugitive named Terry Clark Hughes Jr.
The fugitive fought back, costing four men their lives: Adult Correction officers Alden Elliot and Samuel Paloche, Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks, and CMPD’s Joshua Ayer.
Hughes was a habitual felon. In 2011, he was convicted in Person County of breaking and entering. In 2012, he was convicted in Alamance County of speeding to elude arrest — having fled a checkpoint at more than 100 miles an hour — and possessing a firearm, which as a felon he lacked the right to do.
In 2021, Hughes was arrested in Mecklenburg for drug offenses and fleeing the police. District Attorney Spencer Merriweather dropped most of the charges, referring him to drug treatment instead. There is no record Hughes ever attended. Then he was arrested in Person County again, on drug and weapon charges. This past January, a sheriff’s deputy in Lincoln County tried to arrest him but Hughes sped away.
So, when the task force arrived at the Galway Drive house on April 29, among the charges Hughes faced was the illegal possession of guns. Alas, he still had guns. He used them to murder four men before his outrageous conduct cost him his own life.
The officers were there, in other words, to enforce a gun-control law with nearly universal acceptance. And yet, in the aftermath of this horrific incident, progressive politicians couldn’t help themselves. Rather than tailor their reactions to the facts of the case, they engaged in a robotic plug-and-play.
In his April 29 statement, for example, Joe Biden called the officers “fallen heroes.” Yes, they are.
But the president also said this: “We must do more to protect our law enforcement officers. That means funding them — so they have the resources they need to do their jobs and keep us safe. And it means taking additional action to combat the scourge of gun violence. Now. Leaders in Congress need to step up so that we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, and pass universal background checks and a national red flag law. Enough is enough.”
Several days later, after President Biden met with family members of the fallen heroes as well as others wounded in the firefight, he insisted lawmakers needed to “keep the weapons of war” out of the wrong hands.
The hands of habitual felon Terry Clark Hughes certainly had no business holding firearms of any kind. But it was already illegal for him to do so. That was one of the main reasons the officers were there to arrest him in the first place.
As for the funding of state and federal law enforcement, I see no evidence it played any role here. Safe storage of guns? While the North Carolina General Assembly has already legislated on this matter, it also had no relevance to the case. Nor did the absence of red flag laws (since any report to authorities by family members that he possessed a gun would already have triggered yet another warrant for his arrest) or broader background checks (since he already knew he was precluded from owning a gun and wouldn’t have tried buying firearms from anyone required to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System).
That leaves only Biden’s stated desire to ban all assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Assuming he means semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15 — automatic weapons are already illegal for the vast majority of Americans to own — there are tens of millions of such rifles currently in private hands across our country. Most have magazines holding more than 10 rounds.
To put the matter bluntly, there is no practical way of confiscating these weapons from their lawful owners. Let’s focus on actual criminals like Terry Clark Hughes.
John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His latest books, Mountain Folk and Forest Folk, combine epic fantasy with early American history (FolkloreCycle.com).
If you’re not safe to own a gun, you’re not safe to be in free society. These bleeding heart “let them out” policies are the real culprit here. There’s a diminishing degree of deterrent to perform criminal acts these days. No reason Hughes should have been out on our streets.
I agree.
The mental gymnastics Hood and JLF twist themselves into is astounding. People are dead from guns because of Hood and his ilks obsession with guns…So much so they are ok with selling guns and opiates. Someone needs to explain to Hood and his imaginary friends their attempt to rewrite history is embarrassing. I guess that’s what happens when yall worship your god king Trump. This is like reading an article from a borderline sociopath. Just like your god king. Bloods on y’all’s hands
Typical political BS and criticism with ZERO executable recommendations or solutions. This article was a complete waste of time. Don’t just sit back and throw stones. Offer actual solutions or take a seat.
Solution: God back in schools and fathers back in homes. Gut the welfare system that replaced fathers with Uncle Sam. In the 1950s and 1960s kids took guns to school. We had rifle teams. Society’s moral fabric was torn, but we’ve always had guns. Don’t blame the tool, blame the user.
“I’ll take Name that fort $300 Alex”
“ babies, marines, police, economies, peace, US Marshals”
“ What are things the Biden administration likes to kill?”
“Correct for $300 ( the equivalent of $50 in joes economy”)
Maybe if we had a law that required all gun sales or transfers public and private to be registered and recorded, we could track the illegal sale/ transfer of guns to the last registered owner, who would be responsible for not properly recording that sale/transfer. I realize this would not solve all issues but it would be a start.
BTW Brett, you need to stop drinking the Kool aid
Guns aren’t the problem. The users’ immoral hearts are the problem. We’ve always had guns, but this wasn’t a problem until we replaced fathers and removed God.
Another problem is the John Locke foundation and Mr. Hood in particular using a tragic situation and the death of public servants to make political points even before these heros are even buried. Anything to make it political.
# disgusting
Again Brett you need to stop drinking the R/W Kool Aid.
So it’s okay for Dem politicians to come out for more gun control every time there’s a shooting before the blood is mopped up, but what the right does it, it’s problematic? Double standards and hypocrisy are the only arrows left in the Left’s quiver, eh?
@Brett
So the right is for gun control !!!
Again Brett, you need to stop drinking the Kool Aid, you just shot your argument and yourself in the Foot (Pun Intended)
Try again
#Hypocrisy
Leave it to Mr conservative to blame Joe biden
The conservatives think they hav all the answers and they r smug and arrogant about it.l can tell u right now they don’t hav all the answers
The problem is NOT with law abiding citizens having guns. You can only purchase them with a Federal background check and medical clearance. I know this because I have purchased guns in the past. The PROBLEM is with the criminals, do you honestly think they go into a store or gun shown and purchase them….NO they are buying them off the street, in alleys from drug dealers and gun runners and other thugs and criminals. They come across the southern border hidden just like drugs in delivery vehicles, thru tunnels, and in private airplanes that drop them in the desert or forest, in boats along our coasts….THAT folks is the problem. If the law abiding citizen is not allowed to protect and defend their self against aggression repression and tyranny then this county as a Republic is doomed. THAT is the reason for the second amendment… The other problem is they should never have allowed him out after the third time. I thought NC had a law, three times you are out….the judicial system is broken on that part. LEO’s do their job, and the Judges slap criminals on the hands and let them go to break the law, commit crimes and murder again…..
This I agree, THE CRIMINAL SYSTEM IS BROKEN! The animal that killed the four LEO’s should not have been out of jail. Further I would like to know about the younger man and woman in the house that was shooting as well. The world is not sick, our judicial system is and that is why the world looks sick. Put the crap in jail and keep them there and bring back the death penalty.