Five News Stories across Tennessee
WZTV Fox 17 Nashville News, February 9, 2016
“I would argue these gun free zones are providing a hazard,” said Lott.
Lott told the Senators his research has found mass shootings are less likely to happen where people can legally carry their guns with a permit.
He also says that research has found few problems when they’re carrying in schools.
“[For K-12] There’s only one accidental discharge I’ve been able to find,” said Lott.
The testimony was in support of two controversial bills sponsored by Republican State Senator Mike Bell.
One would allow private K-12 schools and universities the option of letting carry permit holders carry on campus.
The other would let state university and college employees carry guns.
“It’s not just safer for the campus as a whole it’s safer for the permit holder as well,” said Senator Bell. . . .
WKNO and other Public Radio stations in Tennessee, February 10, 2016
Mass shootings. And how to prevent them. . . .
Helping to guide [Tennessee lawmakers’] thoughts was a prominent researcher, who argues more guns mean less danger.
John Lott is an economist by trade, but his academic focus is on guns. He first became famous in the mid-1990s when he released a book that argued places that allow concealed carry have less crime than those that don’t.
Now, Lott is extending that argument to mass shootings. He says attackers pick out places like college campuses, movie theaters and churches that ban guns.
“Virtually all these cases,” Lott told state lawmakers at a hearing on Tuesday, “these attacks take place where victims can’t defend themselves.”
That conclusion has been questioned. Critics say there’s not much evidence to show gun bans have any impact on public shootings, and that most mass shootings actually take place in private homes. (Lott responds that his research looks at public mass shootings, not private ones.)
But state Sen. Lee Harris said Lott’s argument is troubling — even if you accept its premise. Harris, D-Memphis, said it would just lead to an arms race between law-abiding citizens and psychopaths.
“It seems to me they’d get bigger guns, quicker trigger fingers and more devastation,” said Harris. “I’m just afraid of taking your tactic to address mass shootings.” . . .
WGNS News Radio, February 11, 2016
The Tennessean, February 10, 2016
Although the committee deferred action on three gun bills that have drawn both support and ire, the day’s action was the first time lawmakers held a lengthy discussion on the topic.
The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, seeks to allow any valid handgun permit holder the ability to sue a person or business in the event that the gun holder was injured or killed by “invitees, trespassers, employees of the person or entity, vicious animals, wild animals and defensible man-made and natural hazards” while in a gun-free zone. . . . .
The Nashville Scene, February 9, 2016
To justify their legislation, Republicans called a so-called expert witness, a guy named John Lott, who goes on Fox News and elsewhere to claim more guns equals less crime. The problem is, Lott has been widely discredited, and his data has been debunked. As one criminologist has put it, “garbage in, garbage out.”
Lott said gun-free zones are dangerous and killers target them because people are defenseless. Hearing his testimony, it was a little scary sitting here in the big gun-free zone which is the Legislature.
“There’s absolutely no way to guarantee that killers and terrorists aren’t going to find a way to bring weapons into these gun-free zones,” he said. “If you were threatened, if somebody was stalking you, would you put a sign in front of your home and say this is a gun-free home?” . . .
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