Patrick Shearer, a sergeant on the Peoria, Arizona, police department, thought it was a good idea last month to post on Facebook a photo of seven young people posing in a desert with four guns and a shot-up T-shirt depicting President Obama’s image. Having worked in law enforcement for 25 years, he should have known it would start a Secret Service investigation, but according to a report by Reuters, Shearer thought it wasn’t “that big of a deal” because “it’s not like they were going to go out and shoot the president,” he told a local television station.

Well, here’s a bet that even the world’s most morally-opposed-to-gambling person couldn’t resist: being demoted from sergeant to officer and a two-week unpaid suspension is probably feeling like a really big deal.

Shearer said that he was making a “political statement” but would give his life for Obama. He has 10 days to appeal the drop in rank, but it will be difficult to defend such an unsound decision. The Secret Service has decided it won't press charges.

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(Photo: Patrick Shearer)

(Photo: Courtesy KPHO NEWS)