Who's Afraid of Terrorism? Licensed Gunmen to the Rescue!

The Tennessee Firearms Association is pressuring sheriffs to call for our state’s licensed gunmen to carry their weapons at all times as a deterrent to terrorism.

At last report, only two sheriffs—Gibson County’s Paul Thomas and McNairy County’s Guy Buck—have stepped up, so expect the TFA to start castigating all the rest of them as commie rats any minute now.

TFA director John Harris says sheriffs are "sending the important message to potential criminals and terrorists that there is no safe haven for them in Tennessee.”

In the upcoming legislative session, Harris says his outfit will claim the terrorist threat as justification for changing the law to let anyone carry a gun anywhere they please—no permit required, no background checks, no safety training, no questions asked. It’s what gun freaks call Constitutional Carry.

“The TFA looks forward to the passage of Constitutional Carry as early as the 2016 legislative session so that government fees and oversight no longer infringe the ability of law abiding citizens across Tennessee to carry personal firearms for self-defense without the need for a permission slip from the government,” he says. “The need for this legislation is not just constitutionally justified but is now even more pressing because of the real and present dangers that terrorism presents in Tennessee.”

That’s all we need, right? A paranoid gang of Barney Fifes on the prowl for terrorists. Common sense should tell you this is an incredibly bad idea. As the Washington Post’s wonkblog points out, there’s also research to show the gun lobby’s assumptions are false:

This line of reasoning has become increasingly accepted among the public. A recent Gallup poll found that 56 percent of Americans say the country would be safer if more people carried concealed firearms. The only problem is that the research generally doesn't back up this notion. Social scientists are finding that more guns lead to more gun crime. Loosening concealed carry restrictions is associated with an increase in assault, rape and murder. And most people are shockingly bad at effectively using their guns in a self-defense situation.

You don't need to be a gun policy expert to understand that if more people are walking around carrying firearms, some will use them to nefarious ends. People with concealed carry permits are more likely to commit mass shootings than to stop them.