QuietDan

Not the only one. Floodgates of crime will open.   Class action lawsuit time, from gun owners AND non-gun owners. They will win a lawsuit and own a newspaper bankrupted by legal fees. I hope they go after corporate Gannett. That'll empty the till at the Tennessean and the Daily News Journal et al.

Questions arise.   I wonder if Walmart has the inside track on the plans and has already positioned their business to align with the new plans?   I wonder if Walmart is just being business-wise?   I wonder if Walmart is being bullied or bribed?

Class action lawsuit time, from the gun owners AND the non-gun owners. They'll be successful and own a newspaper bankrupted by legal fees.

A dab of lok-tite from here on out.

If you love your girl-friend enough to propose to her, why are you taking her to CHICAGO??!!

I dislike and hold in contempt this whole "Petition to the White House" crap.   It reminds me of Caesar, of the Roman Emperors, of French Kings, of the Emperor of China, all surrounded by plebes or peasants with their little petitions tied with ribbons. "Please glance at my pitiful plea, wretch though I be."   "All Hail the God-Emperor Barack Hussein Obama. All Hail."   Disgraceful.   ******************************************   Most of these petitions for a "redress of grievances" would be better addressed to our State Governor or State Legislators, or our Congressional Representatives and Senators.   "God Bless The United States of America, and its foundation document the Constitution of the United States of America."

http://www.wsmv.com/story/20559458/tn-lawmakers-wary-of-any-new-federal-gun-laws

The Bishop of Nashville has not approved of this activity.   Joe Pat Breen at St Edward's has been a loose cannon for years.

The Tennessee story is AWESOME! Homeowner shoots out the tire, the perps ditch the car in the woods and run around in the woods, coming out at the homeowner's uncle's house, who holds them at gunpoint for deputies. Made for TV movie!

If he's mentioning violent young men and video games before he mentions guns, and then only to say its not the gun trigger but the trigger puller, the statement is very pro-Second Amendment.

Biden: Executive orders, action can be taken on guns   By David Sherfinski   The Washington Times Vice President Joseph R. Biden vowed action on gun control from President Obama on Wednesday and floated the idea that Mr. Obama could use executive action to do so.   "The president is going to act," Mr. Biden said, speaking briefly before a meeting with gun safety and gun victims' groups Wednesday. "There are executive orders, executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet. But we're compiling it all with the help [of] the attorney general and all the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action we believe is required."   Mr. Biden has been tapped by Mr. Obama tapped to head a task force on gun violence, which is scheduled to deliver recommendations to the president by the end of the month.   "We are vitally interested in what you have to say," Mr. Biden told the group. "And as the president said, if our actions result in only saving one life, they're worth taking. But I'm convinced we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm's way if we act responsibly."   "I want to make it clear that we are not going to get caught up in the notion, 'unless we can do everything, we're going to do nothing,'" Mr. Biden continued. "It's critically important we act."   Per to a White House official, representatives from the groups listed below were at the meeting, according to a pool report. Attorney General Eric Holder also attended. Gun-safety advocate groups:   • Arizona for Gun Safety • Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence • Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus & States United to Prevent Gun Violence • Cease Fire Pennsylvania • CT Against Gun Violence • Cure Violence • Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence • Mayors Against Illegal Guns • Protect Minnesota • Violence Policy Center • Wisconsin Anti Violence Effort Because of a scheduling conflict, a representative from Mothers in Charge will attend a meeting with White House officials at a later date.   Victims and survivors:   • Colin Goddard, a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting • Elilta Habtu, a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting • William Kellibrew, a witness to violence and founder, William Kellibrew Foundation         • Annette Nance-Holt, the mother of a victim of gang violence • Lonnie Phillips, the stepfather of an Aurora, Colo., shooting victim     http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/9/biden-executive-orders-action-can-be-taken-guns/print/#ixzz2HVHYjtQ9

Biden: Obama Considering 'Executive Order' to Deal With Guns     Vice President Joe Biden revealed that President Barack Obama might use an executive order to deal with guns.    "The president is going to act," said Biden, giving some comments to the press before a meeting with victims of gun violence. "There are executives orders, there's executive action that can be taken. We haven't decided what that is yet. But we're compiling it all with the help of the attorney general and the rest of the cabinet members as well as legislative action that we believe is required."   Biden said that this is a moral issue and that "it's critically important that we act."   Biden talked also about taking responsible action. "As the president said, if you're actions result in only saving one life, they're worth taking. But I'm convinced we can affect the well-being of millions of Americans and take thousands of people out of harm's way if we act responsibly."   Biden, as he himself noted, helped write the Brady bill.   Eric Holder was scheduled to be at the meeting that's currently taking place at the White House.       http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/biden-obama-might-use-executive-order-deal-guns_694984.html   Link includes video   Another & different story in the Washington Times at:  http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/57980-biden-executive-orders-action-can-be-taken-on-guns/

  The God-Emperor Barack Hussein Obama and all his granola crunchin' minions can kiss my ass.   And, I imagine the various Tennessee County Sheriffs and the Tennessee Governor probably feel the same way, if not a little more politely stated.

It is THAT easy. Local control. Local response to Local situations.

January 7, 2013 Obama's Disarming Haste By Daren Jonescu According to the Washington Post's Philip Rucker, President Obama is committed to moving quickly on gun violence legislation. Reported as good news, in truth this carefully projected haste and urgency ought to be regarded -- and would be reported, by a media that did not have a stake in leftist authoritarianism -- as the gravest warning sign. "A warning sign of what?" asks the scoffing useful idiot. "Of the end of even the pretense of liberal democracy, constitutional republicanism, or any other form of government answerable to the governed." It became a cliché during the last century to say that tyranny has the advantage over freedom in a crisis, because while the legitimate government must follow its own internal processes for assuring the consent of the people (or of their representatives) prior to acting, the tyrant may simply issue a decree, irrespective of anyone's objections. It is true that legitimate governments comprised of co-equal branches, or of deliberative bodies, are somewhat limited in their power to act precipitately. And that limit is precisely the source of their legitimacy. In almost all circumstances, sometimes even including the most grave and pressing, legitimate governments are compelled to engage in some measure of deliberation. That is, they are restricted in their actions and responses to what can be agreed upon through a process of reasoning. If there are disagreements about the need for action, they must be heard. If there are quibbles about the course of action to be pursued, they must be heard. Churchill argued vehemently and repeatedly in and out of the British parliament against Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler, and in favor of forceful action. Through this process, his case, which was initially unpopular both in parliament and among the British people, grew in force and effect, and Churchill himself was chiselled by it into a greater leader of men -- precisely when Britain, and the world, needed such a leader. His path to action was longer and more laborious than Hitler's, but he had right on his side -- and he won. Churchill was forced to these extremes of patient argumentation in the face of an immediate threat to his nation's survival by a tyrannical lunatic commanding the most powerful military in Europe. That is a case study in what I am calling "legitimate government." Illegitimate government, by contrast, would follow the opposite trajectory: pursue the most radical policy proposals while circumventing or avoiding patient argumentation and debate, even in matters of relatively little urgency. To state this contrast differently, a free nation thinks before it acts in its own best interests, even in a genuine crisis, while an unfree nation is dragged into unthinking action against its own interests, in response to an illusory crisis. When Rahm Emanuel described the Obama administration's modus operandi as "never let a serious crisis go to waste," many conservatives latched onto this supposed revelation as Exhibit A against the administration's integrity. In truth, Emanuel was putting the idea out there early, in the first weeks of the administration, so that, through repetition, it could be transformed, over the course of Obama's first term, from evidence of alarming cynicism into the definition of responsible governance. Thus it is that mainstream reporters can now matter-of-factly describe the White House's mission on gun control this way: Obama's advisers have calculated that the longer they wait, the more distance there is from the Newtown massacre and the greater the risk that the bipartisan political will to tackle gun violence will dissipate. "This is not something that I will be putting off," Obama said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in an interview broadcast last Sunday. At the White House meeting, [Sheriff Richard] Stanek said, "the vice president indicated that there was a very short timeline for him to get back to the president with his recommendations because the American public has a short memory." Think about that. The president and vice president of the United States are urging immediate action on gun control, pre-empting all debate about the measures' constitutionality; and their justification for this urgent, anti-constitutional action is that "the American public has a short memory." In other words, this is not a real crisis (i.e., an ongoing threat), and the public will soon realize that, and carry on with life as usual; therefore, we must act before that happens. Here is Rucker's account of the administration's intentions: A working group led by Vice President Biden is seriously considering measures backed by key law enforcement leaders that would require universal background checks for firearm buyers, track the movement and sale of weapons through a national database, strengthen mental health checks, and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors, the sources said. As for where the federal government would get the authority to require "universal background checks," monitor the "movement" of private property, impose "stronger" mental health checks (on whom?), or punish private citizens for "giving" guns to minors (teaching your son to shoot?), these are precisely the kinds of questions for which the normal process of legitimate government would be in order -- deliberate, debate, reason. But the administration is unwilling to accept the likely outcome of such a process, and therefore wishes to foist its illiberal ideas on the public without open discussion. We all know the pattern now: in place of the deliberative process designed to protect the public from unjust government, Obama, Feinstein, et al will rush through legislation and executive orders, and then "lead a public relations offensive to generate public support." There is a striking dissonance between the alleged need to act immediately, and the nature of the measures proposed. Rucker repeatedly tells us the government's response will be "comprehensive"; Biden's working group has "expanded its focus" to areas in which the president may act without congressional support, such as "changes to federal mental-health programs"; the administration is "quietly talking with a diverse array of interest groups"; they are "developing strategies to work around the National Rifle Association," such as "rallying support from Wal-Mart and other gun retailers for measures that would benefit their businesses" (i.e., crony capitalism in the name of restricting gun sales); their proposals constitute a "deeper exploration than just the assault-weapons ban"; and the discussions include the secretaries of Homeland Security, Education, and Health and Human Services. These are strategies for radical change in the nature and order of American society. One does not solve an immediate crisis by abandoning the entity undergoing the crisis. A man whose kitchen is on fire does not respond by calling a real estate agent to discuss buying a new house; he calls the fire department, and tries to save his property. A nation in a crisis does not abandon its laws and principles; it tries to shore them up with some form of corrective action. Conservatives were rightly disdainful of George W. Bush's nonsense about "abandoning the free market in order to save it." Now, the Obama administration's response to a violation of individual rights (gun violence) is to abandon individual liberty and the right of self-preservation. A government that responds to a genuine crisis -- such as foreign attack, or wide-scale insurrection -- in a precipitate fashion is acting irresponsibly. A government that manufactures a crisis in order to justify acting precipitately is behaving tyrannically. A government that follows this pattern as its normal method of operation is not merely behaving tyrannically - it is a tyranny. "Never let a crisis go to waste" is cynical politics of the highest order. "Never let an opportunity to create the illusion of a crisis go to waste" is worse than cynical; it is diabolical. It is also fundamentally delegitimizing of the government that pursues this policy. A health care "crisis" necessitates immediate passage of a bill that no one has read, let alone debated. A student loan "crisis" necessitates a federal government takeover of the loan industry. A fiscal "crisis" necessitates the passage of a bill that was presented to the U.S. Senate -- "the world's greatest deliberative body" -- six minutes prior to the vote. And so on. Now, a gun violence "crisis" -- which has been cleverly expanded into a mental health "crisis" -- requires immediate, undeliberated measures to begin the final process of ending private gun ownership, while extending the federal government's power to assess, label, restrict, and/or detain private citizens as "mentally unstable," according to guidelines that will be written by the leftist authoritarians at HHS, the Justice Department, and Homeland Security. Talk about the lunatics running the asylum! The only real crisis at play here is a crisis of liberty; the U.S. federal government has become unmoored from any notion of legitimate representative government, and its illegitimate practices have become broadly acceptable to the American public. Corrective measures are certainly in order, but these will not come from the government. They will come, if they come, from the people. Here, from the Washington Post article, is the sensibility now governing America's public policy, in a nutshell: "As we get involved in these ad nauseam debates over the Second Amendment, our children are still at risk," said Jon Adler, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. "Debating is not the action verb we need to protect our children." Actually, Mr. Adler, it is. Debating -- discussing the appropriateness of proposed policy in light of the nation's interests and fundamental principles -- is what legitimate governments do, as long as they wish to represent the will, rather than exploit the ignorance and fear, of the people. While we're at it, Americans might like to consider a few other action verbs pertinent to this moment, and to "protecting their children": resisting, debunking, teaching, thinking, and fighting. http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/01/obamas_disarming_haste.html

He's a bigger man than me. Kudoes to him and girl friend for a plan to keep her safe, and kudoes to him for having a hand on the .45 and not getting to the threshold of using it. Sounds like it was close. If he was not in fear of his life from the pellet gun, he made the right call.

I'll tell ya, I've got reservations about teachers with guns.   However, while still on active duty a few years back, I took a bunch of educators on a tour of Air Force Basic Training and the other schools at Lackland Air Force Base. We visited the barracks, the dining halls, the military working dogs, the Security Forces School.   At the Security Forces School, we had a FAST (Fire Arms Simulator Training) facility, a simulator with the high end video system and the compressed air powered M9 pistols, the works. We had the teachers up against the Security Forces professionals in a video active shooter scenario. The perpetrator with a knife was in the library with kids, and the scenario called for two security forces to respond in the library. In the video, the perpetrator grabbed one of the kids across the neck with the knife and shielded his body behind the kids, complete with screaming and yelling and four-letter threats.   The real-life visiting LIBRARIAN shot the Perpetrator in the forehead with one shot. She did it faster than the trained Security Forces. The FAST Simulator awarded her a perfect score. Absolutely Freaking Legendary.   You'd be very surprised what mommas can do when their children are threatened.

Move to arm teachers picks up steam in TN   Written by Chas Sisk, Andy Humbles and Lisa Fingeroot   Measures that would bring more police officers into schools and allow teachers to be armed appear to be gaining momentum among Tennessee lawmakers in the wake of last month’s shooting in Newtown, Conn.   Several Tennessee lawmakers say they have drafted legislation that would encourage school districts to place at least one armed police officer in every school and would allow teachers who have undergone special training to bring their personal handguns into schools.   And at least one city in Middle Tennessee is considering paying for teachers to take a gun training course. The state measures would reverse decades-old policies that have all but banned firearms from schools. Supporters say gun bans have failed to prevent school violence, but many teachers, administrators and parents are reacting with alarm to the proposals. Some are against teachers having guns in classrooms, saying it will make schools less safe by letting untrained marksmen carry guns into an environment filled with children.   “A teacher’s responsibility is to educate,” said John Hittle, a parent of children at West Wilson Middle and Lebanon High in Wilson County. “(Potentially shooting an intruder) is not what they are there for.”   The proposals probably will spark intense debate after the Tennessee General Assembly starts its 2013-14 session on Tuesday. They could thrust Tennessee into the center of the national discussion over how to respond to the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.   The National Education Association and Professional Educators of Tennessee, the two largest trade groups for teachers in Tennessee, say they oppose allowing teachers to go armed. Gov. Bill Haslam and House Speaker Beth Harwell, both Republicans, also are expressing skepticism toward the prospect.   But the idea is being embraced in the state legislature. At least two bills are in the works that would let teachers carry guns, along with other measures meant to increase security in schools.   Some local officials also support the proposal. Mt. Juliet has reacted to potential changes to school gun laws in Tennessee with a resolution to waive all fees for Wilson County teachers who want to take the city’s handgun training course.   “My suggestion is to allow more teachers to obtain conceal carry permits and (change the laws) to allow those to carry (a weapon) on school grounds,” Mayor Ed Hagerty said. “Then you don’t need an armed officer at every school.”   Letting teachers carry guns in schools appears to be allowable under federal law. The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 generally prohibits guns within 1,000 feet of schools, mandating at least a one-year expulsion for any student who brings a firearm to school. But the law includes numerous exemptions that could be used to let teachers who hold a Tennessee handgun carry permit bring their guns into school buildings.   (The constitutionality of the Gun-Free School Zones Act also has been in doubt since a 1994 ruling against it by the U.S. Supreme Court.)   Tennessee law places tighter restrictions on firearms in schools, including a maximum penalty of up to six years in prison for bringing one onto a campus. The law makes an exception for people who bring a gun in their vehicle while picking up or dropping off passengers.     The proposals     Bills in the works would add new exceptions.   State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, R-Lancaster, is proposing a measure that would let teachers with handgun carry permits bring their guns to school, with the permission of the local school system. The bill also would require teachers to go through special training, and it would allow them to load their guns only with “frangible bullets,” ammunition designed to break apart to minimize the risk of ricocheting.   Meanwhile, state Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Knoxville, says he has drafted a bill that would require districts to assign at least one resource officer, typically a sheriff’s deputy or other armed police officer, to every school or to allow teachers to go armed.   “We’ll probably have several co-sponsors,” he said. “There seems to be a lot of interest in it. I’ve had very, very little negative response, at least from people in Tennessee.”   State Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, also plans to introduce legislation proposing three options for schools — to have a trained student resource officer on campus; allow faculty members who are handgun carry permit holders to take student resource officer training so they can carry a gun at school; require the school system to assume liability of its students.   “Gun-free zones don’t work, and that’s been proven time and time again,” Campfield said.     Haslam is cautious   Republican leaders, however, are responding cautiously.   In an interview shortly after the Newtown shooting, Haslam said changes to Tennessee’s gun laws should be done using a “holistic approach” that also could include increased funding for mental health services and more school resource officers.   “What if the teacher doesn’t want to be armed?” he said. “I’ve never seen a survey, but I bet if you went out and polled elementary school teachers, I bet you wouldn’t get an overwhelming number of them who carry.” Harwell said through a spokeswoman Friday that she also favors more resource officers.   “The speaker realizes there will be a number of bills filed on this subject and there will be discussions about it this session,” spokeswoman Kara Owen said. “She favors properly trained armed personnel in our schools to protect our children. Fifty percent of our schools already have this in the form of school resource officers, so if we can increase that number within fiscal constraints, she would favor that.”   Incoming state Rep. Darren Jernigan, D-Nashville, said he opposes the allowance of guns in schools, citing an increased potential a student could gain possession of a weapon as one reason.   “If teachers wanted to be in law enforcement they would have gone into law enforcement,” Jernigan said. “I see more problems with arming teachers than benefits on the other side. The left wants to ban guns, and the right wants to add guns, and finding the middle ground is becoming more difficult.”   Jernigan believes placing a student resource officer at all schools is “the best compromise.”     Mt. Juliet takes steps   In Wilson County, student resource officers are already in the high schools, middle schools and K-8 schools in the Wilson County Schools’ and the Lebanon Special School District systems. Twelve more student resource officers would be needed for one to be in each public K-5 elementary school in both systems, Sheriff Robert Bryan said.   But officials in Mt. Juliet are nonetheless taking steps that would make it easier for teachers to receive handgun training. Hagerty, the city’s mayor, and James Maness, its vice mayor, have co-sponsored a resolution that calls for the city to waive its fees for teachers who want to enroll in its eight-hour handgun safety course.   The standard cost for the course is $50 for Mt. Juliet residents and business owners. The cost is $75 for Wilson County residents outside the city and $100 for non-Wilson County residents.   Wendell Marlowe, the principal at West Wilson Middle School who also serves on the Wilson County Commission, believes county governments and school systems will need to look at liability issues if the state allows educators to be armed at school.   “I would still want our school administrators, the school board, the director of schools and law enforcement to have some long discussions before any policy changes,” Marlowe said. “Even with proper training, I’m not sure there should be a blanket policy concerning faculty and staff members being allowed to have a firearm in our schools.”   Mike Davis, the director of Wilson County Schools, also expressed doubts about armed teachers. “If for some reason a weapon was left unsecured, the possibility exists a student could get a gun,” Davis said. “And there are some students who are physically very strong and could overpower (a teacher) in certain situations.   “I personally don’t think adding guns to the equation is a good mix, and the law would have to be changed anyway. I don’t think parents would be very comfortable.”   Gera Summerford, who speaks for the Tennessee Education Association, the state’s largest teacher group and also its only formal union, expects her board to take an official position against the proposal to allow teachers to carry guns. The topic is on the agenda for a meeting in two weeks.   “A teacher’s job is to nurture and teach,” she said. “I just don’t think the teachers are the ones who need to be concerned (with stopping an intruder). Their main concern is to keep children safe and do what is best for the children, and that is different from being on the front line as a guard.”   Professional Educators of Tennessee, which is formed as an association instead of a union, has a different view. “We want to leave it to the locals to decide,” said Executive Director JC Bowman. His group believes each local government in Tennessee should have the ability to make its own decision about guns because many are small and rural and not financially able to hire school resource officers for every school.     Arming teachers vs. officers   Bowman, a former Marine with a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Tennessee, has some personal reservations, though, and would prefer to see trained resource officers in every school. “I don’t want a Wild West situation,” he said. “We are entering new ground. I don’t want to be anti-gun, but I think we have to be reasonable.”   Because of his military training, Bowman can envision a situation where a teacher with a handgun could exacerbate the situation and get hurt instead of stopping a school intruder armed with the kinds of semi-automatic weapons that have been used in most school shootings. “If you are in a position to avoid conflict, you want to avoid conflict,” Bowman added.   Kyle Mallory, a seventh-grade social studies teacher in Stewart County, chairman of the Stewart County Republican Party, a member of the National Rifle Association and the father of three schoolchildren, believes the safety concerns can be addressed and wants to see legislation that will allow teachers to carry guns. “This could be done through the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, in other words making teachers certified law enforcement officers,” he said.   Bowman and Summerford are calling for federal and state dollars to better fund security measures and also for funds for more school counselors, who might help prevent school shootings by recognizing emotional problems in students before they bubble over into violence.   “We have to recognize that public schools are a high priority in this state,” Bowman said.   National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel supports the idea of trained officers in schools, but not arming teachers.   In a statement from his office, Van Roekel said “haphazardly putting more guns into our schools is the last thing we should be doing to ensure the safety of our students.”   “It’s our job as educators to ensure the safety of children, and that means reducing the possibility of any gunfire in our schools by taking a three-pronged approach to violence prevention: meaningful gun violence prevention efforts; increased access to mental health services; and creating a safe and secure learning environment through school facilities upgrades, more counseling and violence prevention support for students, and more training for all school personnel,” he added.     'Borderline insanity'   Ken Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based national consulting firm, and a 25-year veteran of the school security field, calls the discussion “borderline insanity.” Like teachers, Trump is calling on politicians to devote more money to counselors and professional law enforcement officers. “There is a big difference in protecting me and my family” and being responsible for the protection of a large group of people in a public place, he said.   After the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, a no-negotiation policy became the national standard when experts came to understand the only way to stop a gunman was to shoot him.   Officers, including school resource officers in Nashville, are now trained to get into the school as quickly as possible and shoot the gunman even if they are the only officer on the scene.   Most school security measures in Tennessee are funded by local government agencies that make their own agreements between law enforcement and school officials. But the state has nearly $5 million it gives to various districts each year in the form of school safety grants, said Kelli Gauthier, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.     http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130106/NEWS0201/301060068/Move-arm-teachers-picks-up-steam-TN

Gun advocates show support at rally   By Scott Broden   MURFREESBORO — Local politicians pledged to protect the Second Amendment right to bear arms while supporters took aim at paper targets at a rally/fundraiser here Saturday.   “The Second Amendment is a fundamental right and must be protected,” said state Sen. Jim Tracy, a Shelbyville Republican who announced this past week he will seek the 2014 Republican nomination for the 4th Congressional District seat held by Scott DesJarlais of South Pittsburg. “I believe you have a right to bear arms and protect yourself.”   State Rep. Joe Carr, who is also a Republican and has formed an exploratory committee to study his candidacy for the 4th District seat, offered similar sentiments.   “It’s part of the Bill of Rights,” said Carr.   The Second Amendment Rally & Pistol Shoot, organized by state Rep. Mike Sparks of Smyrna, attracted more than 400 people to a farm off Burleson Lane near Old Nashville Highway and Florence Road. Sparks said it was scheduled long before a shooter killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and sparked renewed national debate over gun control.   “I wasn’t trying to be political or have a knee-jerk reaction,” said Sparks, who said the event is a fundraiser for his re-election in four years. “It’s good food, fun and fellowship.”   Intended or not, the event clearly demonstrated the politicans’ stand on guns with the start of the legislative session looming Tuesday. Various bills on access to guns, including whether teachers should be trained and allowed to carry concealed weapons in schools, are among the topics expected to generate debate this session.   Guest speaker and gun-rights supporter Nikki Goeser of Nashville said that while her husband was murdered in a shooting, guns aren’t the problem.   “I never blamed the gun for my husband’s murder,” she said. “I blamed the murderer.”   She noted after her speech that her husband’s killer was diagnosed as being paranoid and delusional. “The sad thing is he only got 23 years (as a prison sentence),” Goeser said.   She opposes mandating gun-free schools to prevent horrible tragedies such as what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary.   “There’s nobody in this place protecting you,” Goeser said. “Bad guys don’t care.”   She’d rather let teachers carry a firearm to give them “a fighting chance.”   “Let them have the ability to defend those children they love so much,” said Goeser said.   Folks enjoyed sampling chili and chatting at an event that had many American flags on display. Some shot at targets in a field or hung out by a fire pit.   “We are here to support our Second Amendment rights,” Nicole Jennings of Murfreesboro said by the fire pit with friends, including Rutherford County Board of Education member David Nipper, who is a member of the local GOP executive committee.   Democrats mingled at the event, as well, including Judge Larry Brandon and County Commissioner Chantho Sourinho. Notable Republicans present included County Trustee Teb Batey, Sheriff Robert Arnold, state Sen. Bill Ketron and Road Board member Paul Johnson.   Jennings, a member of the conservative grass-roots 9/12 Project of Rutherford County, also came with her husband, Brad Jennings, who came to compete in the target-shooting competition.   Former congressional candidate Lou Ann Zelenik, a past chairwoman of the Rutherford County Republican Party, also attended without divulging whether she wants to run again for the congressional seat.   “I think it’s a great event to welcome people and meet Mike (Sparks) and neighbors in our community and celebrate our Second Amendment to keep and bear arms,” said Zelenik, who finished third in a close Republican primary to U.S. Rep. Diane Black in 2010 and lost again more decisively to the congresswoman from Gallatin last November.   Second Amendment supporter David Boyce said he’s worried that President Barack Obama and Congress will implement strict gun control laws.   “I think the Obama administration is going to take away our gun rights,” said Boyce, a Tennessee Army National Guard major who ran unsuccessfully for the Murfreesboro City Council in 2010. “It’s going to start out with higher taxes on our ammunition and weapons when you buy them. Then they’ll start with forced gun restrictions and then an annual tax on your weapons. Then they’ll start the confiscation portion of it. Historically, these are the steps they’ve taken in other countries.”   While his guests talked about their gun rights, Sparks made sure they know he also wants to call attention to mental health and drug addiction problems.   “There’s no one speaking up on these issues,” said Sparks, noting that he made this point to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. “I told the governor sadly it will be about guns. It will sadly overshadow all the good things we are trying to do as a state legislature to improve our economy, improve education and help some businesses that are struggling.”     http://www.dnj.com/article/20130106/NEWS05/301060046/2013-LEGISLATIVE-PREVIEW-Gun-advocates-show-support-rally

The Tennessean's chosen alternative gun story for the Sunday Tennessean:   http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130106/NEWS0201/301060068/Move-arm-teachers-picks-up-steam-TN?nclick_check=1     I have not yet analyzed this story paragraph by paragraph and sentence by sentence for balance.   My first impression is that the Tennessean thinks "It's a Bad Idea" to have guns in schools and has dragged out old discredited "you'll shoot your eye out" memes to reinforce this Bad Idea. The journalists have selected subjects & quotes, and have used primacy and latency and other techniques, to reinforce the "Guns in Schools is a Bad Idea" point of view.   I will also go in search of the inevitable Gail Kerr foaming-at-the-mouth anti-gun editorial.   Sooooo, what is the Tennessean's Sunday circulation versus its weekday circulation?   In my Opinion, Brian Haas is an honest journalist and a good "piano player."   However, in my Opinion, Brian Haas is playing his piano in a Whore House, owned by a company that runs an unsalvageable chain of Whore Houses.

From the interview: "Unconstitutional laws are NOT laws!"

  When you receive a lot of flack for an observation, you're over the target. I'm in the biz. I have much more than "no" idea why they do what they do.   Your quick and vehement response suggests an accurate assessment.   That does not mean for a second that I don't love you to pieces for what you are trying to do, as you work to be fair, balanced and objective.   If your story is accurate, if your story has elements that are pro-gun, if your story is counter to the editorial position of the newspaper, then it runs on Monday versus Sunday. It's a simple and straightforward observation and very much in line with a tactic well known and often used by the editorial side of the house.   For you to say the circulation on Monday is similar to the circulation on Tuesday seems to me to be disingenuous, when we know the difference between circulation on Sunday is vastly different than the circulation on Monday.   Once again, thank you for fighting the good fight. Merely being objective and neutral and balanced in the current environment is perceived by some as pro-gun.   In any event, expect your story to be extensively re-distributed over the internet regardless of the day of publication.   IMO.   (And they couldn't pay me enough to STOP me from expressing my opinion.)

Brian Haas,   So, basically, your story has pro-gun aspects to it, so the editors are killing it on low circulation Monday instead of highlighting it on high-circulation Sunday.   No response necessary. Don't want you to get in dutch with the editors.   Don't worry. If that's the case, we can circulate it far and wide on the internet.   Thank you for all your hard work.

It does not irritate me to receive a form letter from a Congressman on a sensitive subject. It means they have put thought into it and the answer is the same for each constituent. I would be very suspicious and very unhappy if everyone did not get the same answer to the same question.

Active duty Marines and other active duty personnel cannot communicate in this manner. Retired and separated military personal can. Have at it!