The KNS editor is at it again.

[Guest mikedwood]

This nice little article is from the KNS editor on Easter Sunday.

McElroy: Gun control debate yields to arms race : Columnists : Knoxville News Sentinel

The e-mail came from a colleague, Bobby Wilson: "Isn't it interesting," he wrote. "Fourteen killed in Binghampton, N.Y., and it's April. Chalk up another one for the cruelest month."

His allusions were to T.S. Elliot's famous poem, "The Waste Land," which begins: "April is the cruellest month," and to the pattern of carnage our nation has witnessed in recent Aprils.

n April 19, 1995 - Oklahoma City.

n April 20, 1999 - Columbine.

n April 16, 2007 - Virginia Tech.

n April 3, 2009 - Binghampton.

It was Columbine that affected me deeply. I was in Denver at the time, and my newspaper was immersed in the story.

Discussion raged for months over what caused Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris to go on their rampage: Video games? Bullying? Parental neglect? Easy access to guns?

That last continues to be debated.

At the time of the Columbine shootings, a bill permitting concealed carrying of handguns was before the Colorado Legislature. The sponsor withdrew the bill, and soon legislators passed a law requiring background checks for purchases at guns shows, where the Columbine killers obtained some of their arsenal.

In 2003 though, the Colorado Legislature did pass a concealed-carry law, and now, with the anniversary approaching, lawmakers are weighing a bill to waive the background checks for anyone with a permit.

In mid-America, the gun-control debate is as dead as the Columbine killers. We've accepted the philosophy that "if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" and have entered into a personal-protection arms race.

There are 280 million firearms in the United States today. With everyone packing, the issue now is making sure I can take my gun anywhere the other guy can. If guns are outlawed in schools or parks or bars, only outlaws will have guns there, right?

I can see the logic. With about one gun for every man, woman and child floating around, I understand the fear.

I just wonder where it all leads.

The permitting process is clearly flawed. A study last month by the Commercial Appeal in Memphis found as many as 70 Shelby County residents were issued permits despite criminal histories, including arrests for robbery, assault and domestic violence.

Now we learn that Jiverly Wong, the Binghampton shooter, was also a qualified handgun owner. He mailed a copy of his gun permit to a television station before going on his killing spree.

As Tennessee and other states move to make handgun permits secret, it's safe to assume that the issuing of permits will become more lax. Government, unwatched, does not grow more scrupulous.

So we become a society of armed camps, a perpetual war zone with a balance of power between the good guys and the bad.

Will this bring about a more peaceful era, like the Mutually Assured Destruction standoff? Can we look forward to Aprils that are less cruel?

One can only pray.

It's ironic, though, that the massacre that was averted here in Knoxville wasn't stopped by an armed citizen. It was stopped in a church full mostly of avowed liberals who stood against a gunman, unarmed.

Jack McElroy is editor of the News Sentinel. He may be reached at 865-342-6300, at editor@knews.com or through his blog, The Upfront Page at http://blogs.knoxnews.com.

I just sent him a quick Email, not really wanting to argue with an obivious wall I took a different approach.

Mr, McElroy,

Perhaps it's time you join the Brady campain or start your own group to attack the 2nd Amendment.

Give up the position of editor to someone who is a bit more objective.

Just a thought.

Thanks,

[Guest bkelm18]

Whoa whoa whoa. Hold on a minute there, Mike... are you saying that the KNS isn't fair and balanced? I don't think I like that insinuation. (/sarcasm)

[Guest mikedwood]

Whoa whoa whoa. Hold on a minute there, Mike... are you saying that the KNS isn't fair and balanced? I don't think I like that insinuation. (/sarcasm)

Wow you caught me! I know it's alot to expect from the KNS.

I was reluctant to post this because I didn't want to draw anymore attention to that little daily rag than it deserves which is none.

I haven't heard anyone say anything like "Hey did you see that article in the KNS today?" in years. I hear about the Oak Ridger more. I live in Oak Ridge but work mainly in Knoxville so...

Of course the Oak Ridger is a different story altogether.

[oldogy]

"So we become a society of armed camps, a perpetual war zone with a balance of power between the good guys and the bad.

Will this bring about a more peaceful era, like the Mutually Assured Destruction standoff? " quote KNS

Could it be this is what is actually happening since BGs really do not want to go where the GGs are armed? Look at gun free zones.

One thing for certain, the BGs will always have their guns.

oldogy

[Falcon1]

"So we become a society of armed camps, a perpetual war zone with a balance of power between the good guys and the bad.

Will this bring about a more peaceful era, like the Mutually Assured Destruction standoff? " quote KNS

Could it be this is what is actually happening since BGs really do not want to go where the GGs are armed? Look at gun free zones.

One thing for certain, the BGs will always have their guns.

oldogy

And, IIRC, MAD actually worked pretty well, didn't it?

[Guest justme]

Gun free zones--providing helpless victims for murderers, rapists and thugs of all sizes....

I prefer an armed populace...makes criminals feel uncomfortable.

[ttocswob]

Just ban April, no more fools, problem solved!

[Moped]

How bout a ban on idiot editors!

[Guest mikedwood]

I sent him a nice Email. I wasn't in the mood to argue

Mr, McElroy,

Perhaps it's time you join the Brady campain or start your own group to attack the 2nd

Amendment.

Give up the position of editor to someone who is a bit more objective.

Just a thought.

Thanks,

Mike

Then he was kind enough to send me a reply. I think it is actually a form letter to try and appease the gun owners in the readership.

From him vvvvv

You may have misread my column, which is my fault for not being clearer.

The column does not say I favor gun control or oppose gun-carry permits.

In fact, it says that gun control is a dead issue, and I explicitly

state that I see the logic of people wanting to be armed and I

understand the fear they might feel if unarmed.

The column does rue the fact that, as a society, we have reached the

point where carrying a gun whenever possible is considered necessary to

guard against gun violence. I suspect you feel that way as well.

I do oppose closing gun-permit records, just as I oppose almost all

government secrecy. I believe that government functions best in the open

and, as a newspaper editor, I have a particular responsibility to

advocate for that position.

Perhaps there should be no gun permits and people should be free to

carry firearms when and where they choose. But our government has

decided to regulate this activity, and I believe that regulation should

be done in the open.

Jack McElroy

Editor

News Sentinel | knoxnews.com

Products of KNS Media Group

2332 News Sentinel Drive

Knoxville, TN 37921

I don't think the editorial and the reply letter are in the same universe.

[Guest SUNTZU]

Funny, people have had to arm themselves since Cain slew Abel to protect themselves from criminals, doesn't matter whether its guns or not. You have a right to defend yourself.

[Guest Swamprunner]

I stopped giving the KNS my money a long time ago. These guys need to get an honest job. Dead tree "journalism" along with the MSM is now a failure since everything has been politicized.

Crap, the Nobel prize, Miss America, and science in general have been compromised by the liberals.

[Guest mikedwood]

That Miss America deal has gotten me madder than #&!!

Saying what he did about here and photoshopping a porn picture on his blog. When the young lady was just telling the truth.

That freak can't even come up with his own name, flames so bad he'd embarass Elton John and hosting that pagent?

If I had been keeping up with that pagent I'd quit over that. Piss poor management is what that is.

Since I started the thread can I derail it?