Gun Owners of America House Ratings For The 110th Congress

TENNESSEE

1 DAVIS A
2 DUNCAN A
3 WAMP B
4 DAVIS A-
5 COOPER A-
6 GORDON B-
7 BLACKBURN A-
8 TANNER B-
9 COHEN B

Blogging from the NRA convention in Kentucky, SayUncle approves the policy of allowing attendees not violating the inalienable right of attendees to carry their handguns at the event (except when McCain is speaking).

What are they so worried about? Getting mugged at an NRA convention? Doesn't say much about their trust of fellow gun owners.

Steve at WhitesCreek has more.

At the end of April, the Commercial Appeal ran an important report about guns in the Memphis public schools - 162 incidents over five years. Even with no fatalities and only a few actual woundings, this is a jaw-dropping number - close to one a week during the school year.

Six of the incidents happened at a school I once attended. One happened where my mother taught remedial reading many years ago, another where my father taught math even more years ago. Three guns were found at the high school that I could see from the dining room of the first house I really remember.

I have to wonder how many guns are not being found. Metal detectors only managed to find eight of the guns. Tips led to most of the confiscations. Many of the violating kids started as victims. How many gang members are too intimidating for anyone to rat on? How many of them carry a gun every day without the school system finding out?

The Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action calls Rep. Jimmy Naifeh out on opposing guns in restaurants, saying "he believes that 'regular people' neither deserve, nor need, the God-given right to self-defense in restaurants."

Yes, that's just what we need. More yahoos with more guns in more places. And come on, admit it. Self-defense is first and foremost on your mind when dining at restaurants.

UPDATE: 2nd Amendment blogger and gun enthusiast SayUncle, who takes exception to the use of the term "yahoo" (because he would never call people names), seems conflicted about guns in public places. It's OK to carry loaded weapons in restaurants and other public places... except gun shops and shooting ranges. Go figure.

What kind of dysfunctional society do we live in that wants to arm teachers in public schools and universities and even allow college students to carry guns to class?

Rep. Stacey "Knoxville's Embarrassment" Campfield has introduced just such a bill, saying:

"It's unfortunate that these supposed gun-free zones are now really just an opportunity for those who are going to carry a gun illegally to know where to go and have some easy victims."

He says he left out a provision that would allow students to carry guns on college campuses so his proposal would "sound more reasonable."

The University of Tennessee doesn't think more guns are needed on their campus:

"In response to similar questions, August Washington, the chief of police at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has stated allowing more guns on campus would not increase safety. In fact, we think the opposite is true. We are opposed to allowing anyone other than trained law enforcement personnel to carry guns on campus."

Knoxville's WBIR did an analysis of Tennessee's handgun carry permit database and came up with some interesting findings:

• There were 177,881 valid handgun carry permits, about 3% of the population

• Four census tracts in Shelby County had the highest percentage of permit holders, at 11% of the population

• Most permit holders live in white, middle to upper-class suburban census tracts where crime rates are typically lower

• Socioeconomic profiles of permit holders are not representative of the typical crime victim