Fresno Mayor Lee Brand, a Republican, opposes a bill allowing city workers with concealed permits to carry on the job, yet Brand has a concealed permit and has carried a gun on the job due to his “higher visibility.”

The bill to allow concealed carry by city workers is sponsored by Frenso Councilman Garry Bredefeld (I-Dist. 6).

According to the Fresno Bee, Bredefeld believes city workers who possess concealed carry permits ought to be able to carry while on the job. He said, “We have code enforcement officers and other employees working out in the community, and some of them have been threatened. They should have the opportunity to protect themselves and potentially protect others.”

He also cited the April 18, 2017, attack in which Kori Ali Muhammad allegedly used a revolver to shoot and kill three people on the streets of Fresno. Bredefeld suggested the Fresno attack was one of many “instances where people with a CCW (concealed-carry weapon) license have been able to prevent such loss of life.”

Breitbart News reported that California’s myriad gun control laws failed to stop Muhammad, and Bredefeld is suggesting the solution lies not with more controls but with more armed law-abiding citizens.

But Fresno Mayor Brand says he will veto Bredefeld’s measure, should it reach his desk. Brand suggested Bredefeld’s push to allow city workers to carry is “overreach” and said, “I’d be really surprised if there’s any support for this beyond one or two votes on the council.”

Ironically, Brand has a concealed carry permit and admits that he has carried his gun in City Hall “on a handful of occasions.” He carried it at times during his tenure on the city council and admits to carrying it “to public events” and to City Hall “one or two times” since becoming mayor at the beginning of 2017.

But the Bee reports that Brand sees his concealed carry as different “because his higher visibility provides a greater potential to be targeted for threats.”

Bredefeld thinks Brand is being a hypocrite and suggests he is showing a double-standard. Bredefeld said, “The mayor ought to give every city employee the very same right to protect themselves that he himself has exercised with his CCW permit.”

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.