A few thoughts:

* We normally say "all bets are off" when it comes to manipulating Python internals with ctypes.  This issue is just one of many ways to wreak havoc.

* The programming pattern of killing running threads at arbitrary points in their execution is inherently fragile.  I don't think other modules are obliged to try to support it. 

* The pattern of "acquire(); try: something(); finally release();" is common.  Logging is only of many modules in the ecosystem that use this pattern.

* ISTM we can't assume that the lock is a context manager because createLock() is a public method and users can do anything with it.

* That said, we could add our own __enter__ and __exit__ methods to the Handler class.

* Lastly, I have a vague memory that at one point there was a rejected proposal to switch logging to use the with-statement throughout.  We should research that to see if the reasoning is still applicable or not.