BlueCollarMuse writes,
Sometimes things happen you didn’t plan on or that you knew were possible but considered unlikely. Unexpected events are, by nature, Ooo, I don’t know …unexpected? I thought of this Thursday morning, on my way in to work just before dawn, headed to my favorite gas station for fuel and morning coffee.
The station was closed as was a main artery headed into town. Two drunk teens ran a redlight and caused an accident. Their car was almost unrecognizable as a vehicle and they were airlifted to a local trauma unit. They hit a car forcing it into the gas station where it hit another car, smashing car two into the building. Then car one skidded into the gas pumps, almost collapsing the canopy onto the pumps and patrons below.
Definitely unexpected.
Hurricane Katrina was unexpected, too, though not unplanned for. So was the recent Asian tsunami. These two events are much larger than an auto accident but serve to remind us the world around us, macro and micro, holds some nasty surprises. Smart people take steps to prepare for them. In considering larger scale surprises, some stock up food and water, others buy generators and fuel while others establish support networks.
One of the wisest things you can do is avail yourself of your 2nd Amendment rights and arm yourself. If you have been the prudent ant and stockpiled, there will likely be a shiftless grasshopper in the neighborhood looking to play a little catch up. Being able to defend what you and your family have accumulated for your own protection and survival is a common sense part of your overall plan. Unless, of course, you live in Tennessee.
When I got home from work late Thursday, this nugget was waiting in my inbox from TeamGOP. It’s a press release from TN State Senator Mark Norris concerning TN Governor Phil Bredesen’s response to Norris’ proposed legislation. It reads in part:
NASHVILLE - The Bredesen Administration expressed opposition to Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris’ legislation limiting the Governor’s power to confiscate firearms and restrict the sale of ammunition during declared emergencies.
Senate Bill 1597 would prohibit the Governor from confiscating weapons from law-abiding citizens or restricting the ability to purchase guns and ammunition during times of natural disaster or declared emergency. Most of the public is unaware that the Governor currently holds this statutory seizure authority.
Norris said he received a letter from Mary Freeman, the Governor’s Director of Legislation, requesting he “consider halting further action” on Senate Bill 1597. The letter states they “disagree with the intent of this legislation and therefore cannot support it.”
Norris said he simply wants to protect Tennesseans’ basic constitutional rights.
“The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is never more precious than during natural disasters or declared emergencies when self defense can be the key to survival,” Norris said. “The Hurricane Katrina disaster was a wake-up call that this could happen.”
In New Orleans, governmental confiscation of citizens’ arms sparked outrage in the aftermath of Katrina. A federal judge later enjoined the City of New Orleans from violating Second Amendment rights after the National Rifle Association (NRA) filed suit.
“New Orleans citizens in lawful possession of weapons to protect their homes and families were forced to surrender those arms,” Norris said. “We do not want a repeat of that scenario in Tennessee. The ability to defend one’s home place and family in the absence of adequate law enforcement is essential.”
Count me in the group ignorant of the Governor’s authority to demand I surrender my lawfully owned firearms. I’m stunned to find that such authority exists. My first response is of the Hollywood vapid blonde variety, “Hellloooo …. we have, like, the ConstiTUtion!!”
Once the outrage wore off, I looked at the language and was immediately angry again. The Governor disagreed “with the intent of the legislation”. What?!? As TeamGOP’s intro to the press release stated:
When Gov. Phil Bredesen is out in public, he is surrounded by brave men and women of the Tennessee Highway Patrol who, of course, are armed. Any law abiding citizen deserves the same right and the same protection.
Is our state’s Chief Executive intending to give up his protection in the event of a crisis? Sounds ridiculous to even ask the question doesn’t it? Why does he disagree with my intent to protect my family from the same people he needs protection from?
As usual, the Gov’s intent only harms law abiding citizens with legally owned firearms. To confiscate them they first must know where they are. As we are law abiding, we’ve registered ours in accordance with the law. The bad guys, the ones we need protection from, will have no one knocking on their door to take their weapons since they are illegally acquired. Then, when they come for me and mine, I’m powerless to defend my own family and home.
I know we are unlikely to have hurricanes here, but we do have tornados. Sometimes, lots and lots of tornados. We’ve had areas declared ‘emergency areas’ before for floods and the like. And, lest we forget, Tennessee is on the New Madras fault, one of the largest earthquake fault lines anywhere. It wasn’t all that long ago that we had an earthquake here so strong it made the Mississippi River run BACKWARDS for a time. I’d say that qualifies as a natural disaster.
Contact Mark Norris and tell him thanks for looking out for us and to keep up the pressure. And contact Phil “Just Call Me Carpetbagger” Bredesen and tell him to keep his mitts off our muskets!
Keeping my powder dry, just in case …
BCM
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