A new bill in Tennessee will allow gun owners to openly carry a firearm without being required to compete a training course on gun safety.
Until 2007, the only state that didn’t require permits to carry a gun in public was Vermont. Pro-gun lawmakers are pushing for far more lenient gun regulations.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre says “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” However, statistics show that the presence of guns increased criminal homicide, not self defense. In 2010, there were only 230 justifiable killings, compared to 8,275 homicides.
Washington State Sociology Professor Jennifer Schwartz explains, “[n]early half of all homicides, committed by men or women, were preceded by some sort of argument or fight, such as a conflict over money or property, anger over one partner cheating on another, severe punishment of a child or abuse of a partner, retaliation for an earlier dispute, or a drunken fight over an insult or other affront.”