In the past several weeks, the US has seen quite a few instances of high profile gun violence. These individuals are usually characterized as people who are not only unhinged, but who were breaking the law to begin with. The latter may not actually be the case.

The Associated Press reports that “nearly every gunman in this monthlong series of mass killings was legally entitled to fire his weapons“.

Tennessee hasn’t seen this kind of violence since the Knoxville Shootings last year, but one has to wonder, with all the bills currently before the legislature, including Kelsey’s Guns in Bars bill, how long until Tennessee again gets the dubious distinction of it’s own “armed gunman”?

Kelsey’s bill may not ever make it to the floor since the House passed a similar measure on Monday. Representative Kelsey voted for this bill, and offered an amendment that would have stripped the time restrictions prohibiting the carrying of a firearm into restaurants between the hours of 11pm and 5am.

Currently the Kelsey bill has been postponed in committee until the 15th of April.

On February 12, 2009, Representative Kelsey introduced HB 0724.

The bill, if passed and signed, would allow people with conceal carry permits to maintian possession of the firearm in public parks, colleges, bars and restaurants.

This is not a tragedy waiting to happen, it already HAS happened.

March of last year, a former Sheriff deputy, visibly intoxicated, shot and killed one person and wounded another in the Windjammer restaurant in Memphis. The accused deputy is in pre-trial hearings now.

What world does Brian Kelsey live in?

If alcohol and driving don’t mix, certainly alcohol and firearms don’t! Further, if you are at a bar or restaurant, and are so uncomfortable that you feel you need to carry a firearm, wouldn’t the better response be to just leave the premises?

Contact Representative Kelsey and tell him that allowing guns in bars, not only makes no sense, but also makes all Tennesseans less safe.

Action Note:This bill is on the calendar for 4/8/09 in the Criminal Practice and Procedure Sub-committee of the House Judicial Committee. Email the members and let them know just how foolish this legislation is.

Brian Kelsey is sponsoring 3 Joint Resolutions that are Constitutional Amendments, just like the one we talked about yesterday.

One thing we left out, is the $20,000 fiscal note that will be put on all of them if they get past committee.

As the article states, this basically kills the measure. There’s no way the legislature is going to allow $60,000 of our tax money to be held up for something that will NEVER GET PASSED.

Brian Kelsey, stop gumming up the works of our government for your personal gain.  If you don’t want to legislate in good faith, go back to your day job!

h/t PITW

Abortion has been a hot button issue for as long as I can remember.

It’s one of those things that, if you want to keep it legal, you’re not changing your mind, and if you want to abolish it, you’re not changing your mind.

Over the past 15 years, states all over this nation have passed amendments that seek to restrict abortion. Seems like almost every session, someone up in Nashville takes up the issue. This session is no exception.

HJR 0127 introduced by Representative Brian Kelsey:

Adds new provision to Article I to provide that nothing in Constitution of Tennessee secures or protects right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion; states that the people retain the right through their elected state representatives and state senators to enact, amend, or repeal statutes regarding abortion, including, but not limited to, circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest or when necessary to save the life of the mother. 

This legislation is a proposed Constitutional Amendment. That means that it will take a majority this year, a super majority (2/3 vote) of the General Assembly in 2011, and to pass a referendum in 2014. That’s a long way to go for something that only gives the state the authority to legislate abortion.

Truth is, this legislation is a Trojan Horse. It doesn’t specifically do anything but give the right to legislate later, but everyone knows that this “later legislation” will be something to restrict access to abortion. This, in a time when even conservative Tennessee is seeing changes in attitudes about abortion.

A MTSU poll conducted March 4th of this year found that 71% of Tennesseans believe that abortion should either be legal in all cases (19%) or that there should be exceptions to any prohibition on abortion (52%). Only 25% of all Tennesseans believe that abortion should be illegal without exception.

So, if only 25% of ALL THE PEOPLE IN TENNESSEE believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases, why go to all the trouble to go against the other 71%?

Some 20 states have brought up similar legislation over the past several years, and the measure has either been rejected, or struck down by the Supreme Court. Why would Representative Kelsey think we would be any different?

Even if the constitutional amendment is upheld by the Supreme Court, most, if not all, of the legislation that Representative Kelsey has in mind would most certainly be struck down in federal court. Why the hell even bother?

The reason he bothers is hat he’s thinking about HIS values, not yours. He’s not in Nashville to represent you, he’s in Nashville to further his agenda. He wants to be a rising star in the Republican Party, to be somebody, and the fastest way to do that is to appeal to the most fervent believers and hope that they bring with them the multitudes. He does this, despite evidence to the contrary.

So while Representative Kelsey is dreaming up his next great legislative maneuver, we’ll be here paying our taxes for this fantastical journey, through 6 years of voting and God knows how many years of legal challenges that lead straight into Supreme Court litigation.

That’s responsible leadership? I don’t think so.

You can believe what you want to believe about abortion, and nothing anyone says will likely change your mind, but the EVIDENCE shows that until something changes on the FEDERAL LEVEL, people like Brian Kelsey can try to make their political maneuvers, but ultimately they get struck down, costing the state money they could be spending keeping people from getting pregnant.