Here's Why One Alabama Commissioner Ignored Obama’s Order to Lower Flags to Half-Staff for Victims of Orlando Terror Attack

As flags nationwide were lowered to half-staff this week to honor the victims of the Orlando terrorist attack, some flags in at least one county still flew high.

Image via Facebook/Tucker Dorsey

President Barack Obama decreed Sunday that all flags on federal buildings and ships to be flown at half-staff in honor of the 49 people murdered during a terrorist attack at a popular Orlando nightclub over the weekend.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) also ordered the state's flags to be flown at half-staff in the wake of the terrorist attack.

The flags were to remain at half-staff until Thursday, but Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey said his county would not be complying with the order.

Citing the U.S. flag code, the Alabaman said the shooting wasn't a "valid circumstance" for lowering the flags.

"Lowering the flags to half-staff after mass shooting or terrorist event is not a valid circumstance or memorial as specified in the U.S. flag code (usflag.org), Section 175, paragraph (m)," Dorsey said in a statement posted to his Facebook page earlier this week. "I realize that the President and Governor may make the order, but I believe and interpret their order inconsistent with the adopted flag code."

Dorsey continued to argue that lowering the nation's flags means "our country's head is figuratively held low":

[Q]uite frankly, I am not willing to hang my head down because of a terrorist attack against our people and our allies. I am not willing to hang my head down because evil shoots up a church, school, or movie theater. We need more than a gesture as a response. I want us, as Americans, to stand tall, courageously, and fight back against the forces of evil, and let's fight like we intend to win.

According to Dorsey's Facebook post, he did not lower the flags following the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California, or Paris either.

In his post, Dorsey expressed his sympathies for those who perished in the Orlando massacre and offered his prayers.

"Evil exists in the world, and it seems to be expanding at a rapid rate. It is evil, not guns, killing innocents, but that is a different essay," Dorsey said.

Read Dorsey's full statement:

—

Follow Kaitlyn Schallhorn (@K_Schallhorn) on Twitter