In 2017, Kellie Collins (above, left) ran as a Democrat against incumbent Rep. Jody Hice, a Republican, to represent Georgia’s 10th District. She ultimately dropped out of the race, but while she was running, her major theme was gun control and responsible gun ownership.
Now her former campaign treasurer, Curtis Cain (above, right, in better days), has been found dead inside her apartment, apparently the victim of a gunshot wound. Collins turned herself into the McDuffie County Sheriff’s Office just as authorities in Aiken County, South Carolina found Collins, who had been dead for at least four days.
She must have noticed him.
The conservative news media is implying that this constitutes hypocrisy on Collins’ part. It isn’t. If she had shot him while she was campaigning for responsible gun ownership, then it might have been hypocritical. She might have changed her mind about guns in the intervening months, however. Hypocrisy is when you advocate a principle while you are violating it in a manner that proves you don’t believe in the principle at all. That’s not what happened here.
Even if she had shot him in 2017 in Georgia, though, it wouldn’t necessarily have been hypocrisy. She could still have been a responsible gun owner. Maybe she was acting in self-defense. She did not argue in 2017 that it was irresponsible for gun owners to ever fire their weapons; that would be ridiculous, not that gun control zealots don’t often say ridiculous things. It isn’t even correct to call this ironic. Responsible gun owners kill people.
It may well be that the evidence will show that Kellie is a murderer. Base on what we know, however, its is unfair to call her a hypocrite.
I just wanted to clear that up.
Ethics Alarms 
“Hey, I may be a murderer, but at least I ain’t no hypocrite!” 🙂
Good analysis. If she had been one of the screechier, “Nobody needs a gun!” types of gun-control people, though, that would put her more squarely in the hypocrite camp, wouldn’t it?
Well, again, if she bought a gun months after screeching because she realized the error of her ways, no.
Right, the timing is definitely a critical determining factor.
It could be an Ayn Rand sort of thing, too- Rand advocated against social safety nets, even while taking advantage of them. Her logic was that it wasn’t rational for them to exist, but given that they DID exist it wasn’t rational not to take advantage. It wouldn’t be hypocrisy to say “Guns should be hard to own because people may misuse them, but given that they are easy to own I will own one to defend myself- even though everyone (including me) might misuse a legal gun.”
The idea of the “out of character” crime is largely a myth. Criminologists generally find that murderers have committed prior violent felonies. Those few who haven’t previously committed crimes often reveal long-term violent ideation in their communications with others, their Emails, and other means of self-expression. Based on that, (if she is guilty of the crime) she probably knew that she had murderous impulses in her heart and, like most people, assumed that the way she thought is about the same as everyone else thinks.
Approached from that perspective, you could say she would have been hypocritical for her NOT to support gun control: If we’re all barely suppressed murderers waiting until the day we “snap”, we ALL need to be kept away from weapons.
Great point.
The left will always tell you what they fear, what they want, and what they have already done.
They attack those they fear, usually before the target has done anything commensurate to the attack;
They will let slip their true agenda when they think no one is listening;
They will accuse their opponents of what they have already done. (see ‘Russia collusion’ for a deft example. but there are many)
Let me get this right: hypocrisy is now defined as doing something you advocate against, but only if you are no longer still saying it.
So a Republican who voted against gay marriage but was later found in bed with another guy is not a hypocrite. Because the vote took place a few months earlier and is not any longer taking place?
Just want to be sure I understood modern ethics. In case I want to do something I considered hypocritical (I might find myself off the hook)
No, you didn’t get that straight. That’s the opposite of what I wrote, and what hypocrisy is. I wrote: Hypocrisy is when you advocate a principle while you are violating it in a manner that proves you don’t believe in the principle at all.
A Republican who votes against gay marriage is a hypocrite if he gets secretly married to a same sex lover. He is not hypocritical if he turns out to be gay. Nor is he obligated to believe that gay conduct is virtuous simply because he engages in it. Hypocrisy: “Nobody should engage in gay sex” states by someone engaged in gay sex in the same period in which he is holding this psoition in public.
This isn’t that hard.
“Responsible gun owners kill people”
Yes they do. Revolutionary war is a great example. So is the Civil War.
Are current gun owners made of that same metal?
Keep pushing, progressives. You will find out.
I think there is a core of gun owners today that are, as well as a part of the population that are not currently gun owners that would take up arms if the need arose.
I have a friend that doesn’t own guns or particularly care for them, that on realizing I carry asked, “…but what if you get really mad at someone?”. My response, “that question says a lot more about you than it does me…” .
Projection is what schools have taught. Everything revolves around the person, the ego. This is where the ‘self esteem’ push has led us: if you think this way, it is the way to think. If you might do something in a situation, then everyone would.
Good comment, Cannie. Nice to hear from you. 🙂