Somebody Making Sense...

[A_Med]

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/...5491437,00.html

TN moves to allow guns in public buildings

By News Sentinel staff

April 18, 2007

NASHVILLE — In a surprise move, a House panel voted today to repeal a state law that forbids the carrying of handguns on property and buildings owned by state, county and city governments — including parks and playgrounds.

"I think the recent Virginia disaster — or catastrophe or nightmare or whatever you want to call it — has woken up a lot of people to the need for having guns available to law-abiding citizens," said Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. "I hope that is what this vote reflects."

Read the full story in Thursday’s News Sentinel.

Angel

Edited April 19, 2007 by A_Med

[lynn jones]

yeah! TENNESSEE!!

lynn

[SiG Lady]

YAY...!!!!

[davidball]

Does anyone else sense movement from "let's make it more difficult for bad/evil/insane people to get guns" toward "let's make it easier for us to defend ourselves," however subtle that movement might be?

[stryder031100]

AWESOME!!!

[jasmap]

Another reason I'm proud to be a born and raised Tennesseean.

[GentlemanJim]

Lot of people had to work hard to get this.

I am not from TN ....but thanks its good for all of us

Jim

[Chris Keen]

4 or 5 years ago my Dad told me about a fellow who wrote a book called More Guns, Less Crime and I nodded in agreement with the concept, but never gave much thought to ordering the book, since I typically prefer to wait for the movie ...... not much of a book reader here.

But just a day or two ago, I heard Rush or Boortz talking about the book on his show. I think I'll go ahead and order this one now.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/493636.html

Also the recent events, as well as the recent "copy-cat" events has made me change my CCW habits. I have gotten a little relaxed as of late, and wasn't always carrying day to day. I will be from now on, you can bet on it.

[SiG Lady]

Does anyone else sense movement from "let's make it more difficult for bad/evil/insane people to get guns" toward "let's make it easier for us to defend ourselves," however subtle that movement might be?

Yes, and I've been profoundly encouraged by that current vibe.

[zhunter]

Awesome!!

October 1st of 2005 the State of Florida passed a law that effectively allows a person carrying to stop a crime. No longer is it only when YOU are being threatened or attacked. The bad guys took note too, crime went down.

The guy at VT locked the doors, not to keep the students in , but to keep to police out!!

[davidball]

4 or 5 years ago my Dad told me about a fellow who wrote a book called More Guns, Less Crime and I nodded in agreement with the concept, but never gave much thought to ordering the book, since I typically prefer to wait for the movie ...... not much of a book reader here.

This book by John Lott is the definitive study on the effects of gun laws. If I recall correctly, Lott set out to prove that more guns actually leads to more crime and unlike other social scientists (he is an economist), he followed where the evidence led him. The completeness of his data and the thoroughness of his methodology are unquestionable. And his conclusions are stunning, at least to those who think that gun control is the way to go. I suspect many on the forum are familiar with this book. While awesome in content, it is not a real "page turner" for most readers. He has also since published The Bias Against Guns - Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control is Wrong. It is also excellent.

Edited April 20, 2007 by davidball

[Coach]

I hope more state will follow TN's example.

[et45]

I hope Bredesen signs it.Frankly this is what they should have been pushing for since the carry laws were relaxed 9 or 10 years ago.

[G-ManBart]

Way to go TN!

I keep thinking about the contrast between the Va Tech tragedy and the recent mall shooting in Utah. In the mall shooting, by total chance, there was an off-duty cop who was armed. The evidence suggests the off-duty cop didn't hit the bad guy, but slowed him down after the first couple of people were shot, which gave the on-duty cops time to respond and force and end to the situation. That could have just as easily been an honest, law-abiding citizen with a CCW...and if it'd been an IPSC/IDPA shooter, the bad guy would have likely been dead before the cops showed up.

I've gotten into this discussion from time to time and it always amazes me how people tend to forget that criminals and crazies aren't necessarily stupid. They don't have to be smart, but they do know when things are more likely to be in their favor. That's why data from Florida showed an increase in muggings and car-jackings of tourists since the CCW law was passed there (think it was in 1986). The bad guys can spot a tourist or rental car a mile away and they know it's 99.99% certain that they aren't going to be armed because they're not from Florida in most cases.

Bad guys will almost always pick the low-hanging fruit whether it be students on a campus or shoppers in a mall....they don't want a fight and they sure won't go where they think people are likely to be packing heat.