Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club Executive Officer Marcus Carter’s statement before the Kitsap County Board of County Commissioners Monday strayed way off the mark.

Here is what he said:

“There are many people that have let us be known from all walks of life that they will spare no expense to see to it that this county prosecutor and (code enforcement officer) Steve Mount are put down like a rabid dog.”

Carter is currently refuting a lawsuit brought by Prosecutor Russell Hauge which alleges the club is ignoring the rules regulating firing ranges. Carter has also been fighting, successfully, a charge that he illegally possessed an automatic assault rifle.

Some may say Carter’s statement, suggesting the county’s prosecutor and a civil servant be shot, was a piece of political hyperbole.

That may be so. However, it could just as easily be described as a veiled death threat.

This kind of speech has no place in our civic discussions. An apology to the people of Kitsap County is in order.