LAST week I caught a disturbing report on a change in gun law in Tennessee, America. The change could allow people to take guns into public spaces including restaurants and wait for it – bars.
To me this just shouted out stupidity, surely this was some sort of joke. Lets be honest mixing alcohol with firearms is completely safe and rational, just as drink driving is harmless and has never killed anyone! It doesn’t take the brightest mind to put guns and drink together to work out what could happen on a rowdy Friday night. A misguided comment is all that it could take for the local to turn into a blood bath.
Those in favour of the altered law suggest that it would make their lives safer if they could carry around guns in public spaces. Of course the best way to stop someone murdering your loved one is to pull out a gun on the gunman. The argument supporting the change in law seems to suggest fighting fire with firearms. How a weapon can ever be used in a positive way is beyond me.
To an extent the proposal does not surprise me that much, this is the South of America we are talking about. Many Americans are sickly devoted to the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, the 200 year-old right to bear arms. Some estimate that one in four Americans own a gun, which is roughly 76,000,000 people. That is a large number of guns.
All I can say is that I am glad that my constitution does not permit me or my neighbour the right to bear arms (all be it there is no written constitution but that is a completely different minefield).
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