Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

Here is my letter to the Tennessee Public Safety Coalition:

March 18, 2008



Tennessee Public Safety Coalition
530 Church Street, Suite 504
Nashville, TN 37219

Dear Mr. Serpas, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Nichols, Mr. Luttrell, Mr. Gibbons, Mr. Godwin, Mr. Lewis, and Mr. Dunavant:

I have carefully reviewed your letter of March 11, 2008 to Speaker Naifeh and members of the Tennessee House of Representatives, and I am deeply concerned that your letter, as well as your misguided beliefs, may cause the deaths of innocent lives in the state of Tennessee.

It is beyond my understanding how educated officials can ignore proven statistics that affirm crime is reduced when citizens are allowed to carry a handgun. And this factual statistic pertains to the carrying of the handgun anywhere. May 1, 1982 was the date that Kennesaw, Georgia unanimously passed legislation requiring “every head of household to maintain a firearm together with ammunition.” After passage of the law, the burglary rate in Kennesaw declined fifty percent and even today, the City of Kennesaw has the lowest crime rate in Cobb County. Do you care to wonder why? Because criminals are like electricity, they will choose the least resistive path. This is why crime is so rampant in the District of Columbia. I pray that our United States Supreme Court, after hearing oral arguments today, will do the right thing and overturn the D.C. ban of handguns.

In your letter you wrote, “Firearms and alcohol do not mix!” I agree, but let’s remember and emphasize, that citizens that do carry a handgun will not be allowed under the proposed legislation to drink alcohol. Criminals do not obey the laws that our respected legislators take time to write and enact. And the scenario in your second paragraph is highly unlikely.

Could it be that the reality of less crime may perhaps mean some of you could lose your jobs? Do your positions in law enforcement and justice mean more than enjoying life in a state with less crime? Or are your positions worth a single life that might be saved when an honest law abiding citizen stops a crazy gunman that decides to shoot patrons at Logan’s Roadhouse or O’Charleys?

I pity you all for your educated ignorance!

Sincerely,



Bennett Jackson Burke
6220 Shallowford Rd, Apt. 569
Chattanooga, TN 37421
(423) 893-8008

Copy: Speaker Jimmy Naifeh and members of the Tennessee House of Representatives

Ben

Thanks for sharing the letter. I encourage everyone who writes letters such as this to share them so that we can develop a collection of sample letters and encourage others to do the same.

From experience, if these elected officials, which includes sheriffs and district attorneys but DOES NOT include appointed chiefs of police (write the mayors!), do not hear from gun owners loudly and regularly then they will assume that what they have said or done meets the satisfaction of the voters. When they hear an uproar of protest over such self-righteous assertions then they may think twice or three times particularly in an election year.