Tennessee Gun Report

Hey, gun loonz: you know that “gun registry” you’re always freaking out about? Turns out it already exists, and it’s been compiled by the NRA. Guess it’s okay if they do it, right?

Meanwhile, after Australian college baseball player Chris Lane was gunned down while on his morning jog, there have been calls for a tourist boycott of the U.S. Frankly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen something like this already.

Also this week we learned about a really great thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun: a school bookkeeper who is able to talk the bad guy into surrendering. Antoinette Tuff, you are my hero. You saved a lot of lives with your smarts and your heart and your courage.

Here in Tennessee the past week has brought us the usual cavalcade of stupidity and irresponsible behavior with firearms. Enjoy.

• August 20, 2013:

Pistols ‘n Politics, sure why the hell not, after all, Republican politicians have been using guns to shake down the party faithful since forever:

Gun-themed fundraisers are not all that unusual in the Tennessee legislature. Still, state Rep. Courtney Rogers’ plan for a “Pistols and Politics” event at a farm in Cottontown is worth noting.

In an email that went out Aug. 9, the Goodlettsville Republican invited supporters to “come exercise your 2nd Amendment rights” with her Saturday at the home of J.K. and Erica Brister.

The event will include a gun swap, a pistol shoot and a “personal protection firearm” door prize. It also will feature baby animals and a play area for the children, Rogers says. Tennessee Firearms Association head John Harris, a major supporter of Rogers in 2012, is scheduled to appear.

Baby animals, children and guns, of course what could possibly go wrong? Maybe PETA will protest this event, can’t imagine anything more cruel than subjecting baby animals to an afternoon of gunfire.

• August 19, 2013:

1- The accidental discharge of an AR-15 rifle in an ammo-filled room caused a series of explosions, killing a father and son in Henderson County:

Witnesses said that Terry York, 48, who lived at the residence with his family, was showing a friend the AR-15 rifle when it discharged accidentally. The witness told investigators that a fire and possible explosion ensued instantaneously. The person who witnessed the incident was able to escape the engulfed home, but Terry York and his 12 year-old son Luke had to be pulled out of the burning house.

Terry York was pronounced dead at the scene. Luke York was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was pronounced dead . An autopsy of both Terry and Luke York has been requested.

Explosions and an AR-15? Not knowing these people, my first thought was “meth lab,” but no, just your typical Tennessee sportsman:

Family members described York was an outdoorsman who loved fishing and target shooting with his son. […]

Loved ones said York kept a lot of ammunition in the room where the fire started. However, investigators have not said if that is what caused the explosion.

Freedom.

2- Is Remington really looking to expand into Nashville or is this just a carrot used to coerce favorable incentives out of some other hapless locale?

Gunmaker Remington looking at Nashville for expansion, relocation

Tougher New York gun laws prompting possible move, could bring hundreds of jobs to region

One of the nation’s largest gun manufacturers, Remington Arms, has looked at sites around Nashville for a potential corporate relocation or expansion that would likely include hundreds of manufacturing jobs.

The Madison, N.C.-based company, which is part of the nation’s largest firearms company and has its largest plant in Ilion, N.Y, has scouted sites near Nashville’s airport, Lebanon and in Clarksville, Tenn.

This is fabulous news. Next time there’s a mass shooting we’ll know exactly where to hold our rally for sensible gun control laws. Wouldn’t Remington love to have its logo as the backdrop for every horrible mass shooting incident in the country?

• August 18, 2013:

1- A 15-year-old Chattanooga boy was found shot in the back of the head. He has since died. No one has any information about what happened, but he’s the youngest homicide victim of the year in the city, to date. This could be one of the hundreds of random acts of gun violence which occur in this state every week which I don’t bother to post here because, cripes, if I did, these posts would be as long as a Tolstoy novel. Or it could be one of the hundreds of cases of some idiot cleaning their gun and, woopsies.

2- In Memphis, a convenience store owner shot a guy stealing food:

Police say their co-worker, Walid Al Kabsh, shot a man. Store employees say the man stole from their store twice in just a few minutes. The first time, they say Kabsh caught him stealing milk and confronted him outside.

“He went and got the milk out of his back pocket and told him to go ahead on,” said Parker.

But police say the guy came back in the store again, stealing a handful of chips, running for the door and putting up a big fight when the store worker tried to stop him again.

“When I saw the guy reaching for his pocket, that’s when I grabbed him and wrestled him down to the ground,” said Parker.

Just seconds after that that, Parker heard a gun shot. Police say Kabsh shot the man in the leg and even though the victim might have been stealing, Kabsh is the one charged with a crime: aggravated assault, something his co-workers and some customers don’t agree with.

Um, the guy was already on the ground and you shot him anyway? Over milk and a bag of chips? Even the gun folks say that was wrong.

• August 16, 2013:

A passenger at the Chattanooga airport left a loaded .357 in their carry-on.

• August 15, 2013:

1- Will Mt. Juliet city workers be allowed to carry their guns to work? Maybe not:

Commissioner James Bradshaw, who was the lone no vote at Monday’s Mt. Juliet Commission meeting, told News 2 that he’s running the proposed ordinance by the city’s insurer.

“They may not cover that,” he said. “I hope to be hearing something from the insurer soon.”

The measure would allow Mt. Juliet’s 120 city employees to have a weapon in the workplace if they have a properly registered carry permit that would be filed with the city.

Insurance carriers give the free market’s reaction to public policy, and increasingly they are telling conservatives that pro-gun ideology is a no-go.

2- Suicide by cop? Excessive force used by trigger-happy police? Both arguments can be made in this tragic story:

MILLERSVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in to investigate after a man was shot during a traffic stop in Millersville Thursday evening.

The shooting happened just before 7:30 p.m. outside the Economy Inn on Louisville Highway near the Goodlettsville city limits.

The TBI said Millersville Police officers tried to initially stop the car off Lousiville Highway near the Goodlettsville line. A witness said he saw the driver go into the motel’s parking lot and wave a gun out of his window.

“He waved his gun right out of the window acting as though he was about to fire upon the detective that was directly behind him. Three cops come along the rightside flank of the car that the detective was driving, and fired up on him, at least 13 to 14 shots,” said witness Tray Rhoton.

Just another day in America.