Something I didn’t realize
Tennessee has a Department of Homeland Security. For all those terror attacks we have. Surprising to me also is that the agency in charge of the war on some noun now administers handgun carry permits. That sounds like mission creepy.
June 12th, 2013 at 12:05 pm
Huh… looks like they recently rebranded the Dept. of Safety to include Homeland Security. My guess is that this was an attempt to grab federal money.
June 12th, 2013 at 12:25 pm
Tennessee also has a Bureau of Investigation.
June 12th, 2013 at 2:53 pm
To defend the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Gun owners clearly belong in the latter category.
June 12th, 2013 at 3:55 pm
Most state set them up after 9/11 so they could replicate a large, bloated, do nothing bureaucracy just like their federal friends. Fire Marshals, EMS and who knows what else gets dumped in there as well.
June 12th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
Money magnets by any other name.
My old unit renamed the storage depot to “Logistics Operations Center” and got a 150% budget increase.
Also at play is the “I love you so much I’m imitating your stupidity. Send me money.” syndrome.
Cynical? Me?
June 12th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Oddball is correct. The state basically rebranded the Dept of Safety. No doubt to suckle even more at the federal teat.
June 12th, 2013 at 5:16 pm
They don’t have to have permits to carry a handgun for the state.
June 13th, 2013 at 9:21 am
Groovy! I wonder if they are trained by those crack Super-Duper High-Speed Low-Drag experts in Oak Ridge?
June 13th, 2013 at 1:49 pm
I feel safer now.
June 13th, 2013 at 2:26 pm
Like so-called liberals loving Obama for trampling civil rights they normally defend, so conservatives thought Bush was OK for creating Homeland Security and superceding State agencies in violation of the 10th Amendment. As Jefferson warned, “it is a dangerous delusion to trust men of our choice…bind them down by the chains of the Constitution.”
June 13th, 2013 at 7:52 pm
I don’t know about this name change although I did notice it when I got my renewal application recently, but the legit “homeland security” got assigned around 5 pm on 9/11/2001. Only they called it anti-terrorism. I know the guy who got the assignment for his 10 counties and it was a TBI function. There was surprisingly a lot of al qaeda activity in Tennessee over the years.
On the other hand, just like at the federal level real terrorism investigations are handled by the FBI and their Joint Terrorism Task Force. But the federal Homeland Security set up their own centers in the states. Mostly to spread around the cash as they don’t bother with those pesky, and expensive, top secret security clearances the JTTF requires. So patronage bureaucrats can get “in charge” of the homeland security monies without their backgrounds being looked into to hard.
June 13th, 2013 at 8:03 pm
3. Mu,
The oath is
The Constitution, not country, not government except as they reflect the Constitution.
I used to have fun pointing out that my oath could require that I become an enemy of my government should the “government” stray to far from their oath. Really freaks people out. Far to many people, employees of the federal bureaucracy, tend to mix the Constitution with whatever the government does. True, you don’t get your own Constitutional interpretation but their is a line.
I also change the Pledge when I say it. I salute the flag but pledge my allegiance to the Constitution and to the Republic that it governs.
June 13th, 2013 at 9:58 pm
Well-said, JKB.
The Constitution was established by the States for the United States by which its government is RESTRICTED to “delegated powers” without which the Federal Government may do NOTHING. The Bill of Rights were added to be more explicit in declaring he rights of the people and the States and to specifically restrict the federal government from infringement or violation of those rights by the executive, legislative or judicial branches of the Federal Government.
So the question is never, “why do you need…?” but rather does the Government have delegated powers for…what it proposes. When the government acts against those restrictions without delegation of powers, then it is an enemy of the Constitution.
June 17th, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Oklahoma has one too; why, I’m not really sure.
June 18th, 2013 at 7:32 pm
HLS/TBI/Dept of Safety has been around for at least two years. HLS is in a funding crisis, TBI always has been, and Dept of Safety couldn’t survive without DL testing and HCP Application Fees.