Year of the Gun
We’re winning
While anti-gunners, editorial boards (but I repeat myself) and the occasional Tennessee police chief were busy handwringing and bellyaching, the pro-gun team was busy winning:
It’s been the year of the gun in Tennessee. In a flurry of legislative action, handgun owners won the right to take their weapons onto sports fields and playgrounds and, at least briefly, into bars.
A change in leadership at the state Capitol helped open the doors to the gun-related bills and put Tennessee at the forefront of a largely unnoticed trend: In much of the country, it is getting easier to carry guns.
Well, one guy who lost his position (one Jimmy Naifeh) had been stalling gun bills for years. And the Year of the Gun went nationwide:
A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions.
Among other things, legislatures have allowed firearms to be carried in cars, made it illegal to ask job candidates whether they own a gun, and expanded agreements that make permits to carry handguns in one state valid in another.
The trend is attributed in large part to a push by the National Rifle Association. The NRA, which for years has blocked attempts in Washington to tighten firearms laws, has ramped up its efforts at the state level to chip away at gun restrictions.
The Knoxville News Sentinel has a handy little interactive map that shows the loosening of some gun laws. I notice it’s a bit odd that the map shows states that passed more gun control (like Cali and NJ) as No Changes.
December 14th, 2009 at 10:49 am
That is odd.
No Changes for NJ? The biggest thing was One Gun a Month.
December 14th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Once again, layers of editorial oversight missed this one.
Roll over Montana and Tennessee:
“exempts state made firearms from federal gun registration, background checks, and dealer licensing rules.”
Yeah. So the federal gun registry is going strong in those other states? Maybe if they mentioned the NFA process it would make sense, but without mention it implies there is a giant gun database that TN and MT are choosing not to participate in.
Layers of editorial oversight. I wonder what else these newspapers screw up on issues where I am more ignorant.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
“I notice it’s a bit odd that the map shows states that passed more gun control (like Cali and NJ) as No Changes.”
Well, once you’ve stepped off the edge of the known world, further increments are not worth noting.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Even us Canadians are getting closer, I believe we’re only one vote away from the extermination of the gun registry system, which was put in place after the Montreal massacre, but has not prevented a single crime since, but HAS managed to suck billions of dollars out of us.