Rifled Freedom

It's official. Freedom lovers and gun enthusiasts, you have to be both in this case, can be proud of a new Tennessee law that allows people to carry loaded, concealed guns into bars and restaurants.

You have to be both to be proud because most gun enthusiasts I meet or listen to are against many other freedoms, especially really dangerous things like gay marriage. They think as deeply about freedom, and what that means, as young men sporting rebel flags think about history.

The world presented by people in support of this law is a simple one. People who own registered guns and have a permit are according to their arguments, good people who will never, as the law requires, slip up and have a drink even though they know they are not supposed to drink and carry a gun. Then there are bad people, criminals and thugs, who must be stopped by the good people, who are never wrong, who never misjudge a person or a situation.

Nashville's police chief expressed concerns to the BBC stating: "If you think about how alcohol influences the choices people make ... I don't believe people are not going to drink and have guns, because I know they drink and drive."

According to the logic that has been presented by NRA lobbyists and others the world is safer when good people have guns, the more the better, and more places to bring them. This law does not only allow for more guns, it also protects the sacred rights of the good people to fight bad people with gunfire.

Tennessee Senator Doug Jackson said: "People are fearful about tomorrow. They feel insecure. And the Second Amendment right is something that they cherish and it's a means of protecting themselves and their family and defending what they have. It provides security in troubled times." Good argument Jackson, fearful, insecure and potentially drunk people need to be armed and walking around.

Let's not also fail to consider that a large group of the people in support of this law doubled their weapon stash when Obama was elected because they imagine Bin Laden and his cronies riding across the ocean on a satanic serpent that was conjured up by Obama himself to attack them and their families.

A woman whose husband was murdered, staunchly and publically supports the law because she feels that if she had a gun she could have saved him, but whose to say she would have saved him, whose to say she would not have ended up dead herself. This is what she had to say to reporters about the criticism that guns are just made to kill:

"'Yes a gun can kill, but in the correct hands, it can be used to save innocent lives'. I don't care so much about a bad guy's life. I'm sorry, I don't. They make the choice to be evil, that's their choice. If they choose that, and I am armed I know what I'm doing. I will try to stop them."

See what I'm saying. Permit holders can bring their guns to parks too. For those of you living in different parts of the country, don't worry, there are protectors of "freedom" everywhere, just ask Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, she just signed a similar bill. It will go into effect Sept. 30.

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