Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

East Side, West Side, South Side -

Knoxville's mayor, Bill Haslam (http://www.cityofknoxville.org/mayor/get2know.asp) is a member of Bloomberg's anti-gun coalition (http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org ... bers.shtml).

Shelby County's DA, Bill Gibbons is on record opposing firearms carry into restaurants.

Chattanooga Congressman Zach (I TAKE THE PLEDGE) (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... mits_x.htm) Wamp broke his pledge of no more that twelve years in the house. What other pledge will he break?

Are there any contenders out there that agree with the Framers' understanding of the 2nd Amendment?

Don't limit it to "contenders", there are very few elected officials who understand it, if at all, as anything other than a right to hunt.

Unfortunately, many of these people are not well informed of the history of our country. And they are more interested, it seems, in personal power, rather than doing what is right.

What is the difference between a politician and a statesman?

Statemen care about doing the right thing, pols just want re-elected.

As an aside, thanks for bringing this up. I was not overly fond of Zach Wamp, but I will gladly take him over Knoxville's mayor.

When I heard Bill Gibbons was running, I also remembered his opposition to restaurant carry. I saw in another thread on this forum that Bill Haslam is a member of "Mayors Against Illegal Guns". That would leave Zach Wamp.

I am in Wamp's district. I don't really like him, and I used to go to church with the man.

That said, he does tend to be more conservative (he knows where his bread is buttered) than not. If you dig at his record you will see votes we don't all like, but he can be made to do the right thing on guns, and has a history showing this. On other issues most Tennesseans care about, such as Abortion, he has a very good record, which will help in a state like Tennessee.

He has the money and connections as well. I expect him to be a strong candidate. I can't wait to hear his excuse for lying about his term limits though, I have an idea what it will be but I still want to hear it.

I'd like to see Ed Bryant run.

Take Ed Bryant out of the future of Tennessee politics, he is now a federal magistrate for the eastern section of the Western District (read that Jackson, Tennessee):

http://www.tnwd.uscourts.gov/pdf/news/N ... 1-2008.pdf

A pity, I liked Ed.

Van won't be entering will he? I would hate for him to run another bad campaign and wreck the race.

I would say good chance he will. Look how many times McCain has run and lost. In too many cases, its ego over experience and public desire.

Mayor Haslam doesn't want to give up his membership in Mayors Against Guns, and here is a quote from the Feb 1 News-Sentinel:

"Haslam didn't directly answer the question if he would quit the group. But he did express concern that would appear to be "pandering" to pro-gun folks."


He is not, in my opinion, putting himself as a front-runner among law-abiding gun owners.

Right now, of the names I have seen, Wamp is probably going to be our best bet. He may not actively push for things we want, but I would expect passive support. The conversation would go like this:

Wamp: This bill about guns, is it considered pro-gun, and will it make voters happy?

Staffer: The NRA likes it.

Wamp: I support it!

While the NRA is hardly perfect, I would wager that illustration is rather close to the truth for how a politician like Wamp keeps his conservative base happy. Frankly, I don't like it (or him), but it can work for us. I doubt he would ever oppose our bills if we can get them through the legislature.

How will we decide who TFA supports?

Will we be collecting money to help our chosen candidate?