FSNB Bank changes gun policy

When we moved to Cookeville, TN, we decided to open an account locally. One option was the FSNB branch located in Walmart. But, there was a problem. FSNB was posted. We decided to bank with another local bank.










Each time I walked by the FSNB in Walmart there was that sign, so I decided to write to FSNB about their ban-

Thursday, June 06, 2019

John Davis, Chairman of the board, President, and CEO, FSNB Bank

Dear Mr. Davis:

I recently saw your sign at the FSNB branch in the Walmart in Cookeville, TN. That sign prevents honest, permitted citizens from doing business with you. Many of us do business with Walmart each day. We (permitted citizens) have, at significant personal expense, gone through training, had criminal background checks done, and been issued a permit by our respective states.

I would hope that you will reconsider this policy. If you keep your properties posted, I hope that you are providing armed security. If not, you are placing your customers and employees at a greater risk, for by posting, you are notifying the criminal element that there are probably not any armed citizens in your bank branch. You thus create a risk-free workplace for the armed felon.

There is a lesson to learned from the attacks in schools,  government buildings, etc. The lesson is that felons will be happy to see your signs if they decide to target your branch. The odds will be in their favor.

Again, I urge you to reconsider this policy. I would like to be able to tell all my friends and readers that they are welcome at your bank.

Respectfully,

Liston Matthews

Cookeville, TN

Good Hill Press

Here is the positive response I got the next day from Mr. James Cerrone of FSNB:

Mr. Matthews,

Shortly we will be removing the sign and following Walmart’s lead.  Bottom-line we will comply with whatever standard they require since we are inside the WM.   Thanks for your input.

. . . And Here is a photo taken today, Thursday, June 13. Note the absence of the NO FIREARMS sign.

Thanks so much to the folks at FSNB for this very good change in policy.

Blackburn v Bredesen 2018

As we near the general election, I have a few thoughts for Tennesseans whose minds are not made up yet on the Senate race.
Examine your belief systems and see which candidate's views most closely match yours. This can encompass many different areas, such as right to life, firearms rights, or border security. Vote for that candidate.
Consider the Supreme Court. The contentious atmosphere surrounding the appointment and confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh revealed the true nature of the Democratic Party's leadership. The Democrats, with one exception (Manchin of WV), voted the party line, against Justice Kavanaugh. On major issues, Democrats by and large vote the party line in Washington.
The Democratic Party is, without a doubt, the PARTY OF GUN CONTROL! You can research this yourself, or you can check out my friend John Richardson's compilation of state Democratic Party platforms HERE.
Bredesen, as governor, vetoed Restaurant Carry in 2009, as I noted in an update in 2010. With Mike Bloomberg hosting a fundraiser for him, is there any reason to believe that he is no longer a gun banner?
These mid-term Senate races, like the Presidential race two years ago, are really about the Supreme Court. Do you want to see President Trump appoint and have confirmed justices who will follow the Supreme Law of the Land, the Constitution; or risk having a Democratic controlled Senate stalemate his appointments until after the next Presidential election?

Well, do you?

Federal funding for guns in schools - why not?

Last night, August 23, Jason Chaffetz guest hosted The Ingraham Angle on Fox News. He had a segment about the proposal to provide Federal funding to arm school staff.

Chaffetz's guests were Igor Volsky of an organization known as Guns Down, and Laura Carno, founder of FASTER Colorado.

FASTER stands for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training and Emergency Response.
FASTER training enables teachers, administrators and other school employees to stop school violence quickly and administer medical aid immediately. FASTER is not intended as a replacement for Police and EMTs. Instead, it enables on-site personnel to save lives through prompt action.

 HERE is the link to their debate.

WP Clip Art

The problem having no armed security, or even SRO's here and there, is time. As correctly stated by a Federal judge and the Michigan Attorney General (in a case involving guns in a home with foster children), criminals don't call ahead for an appointment. Neither do school invaders.

Volsky's stance was that the police should be called. That attitude brings us back to the time problem. Chaffetz brought up his coach in high school, mentioned his credentials, and asked what about him having a gun (in school). Volsky begrudgingly agreed that with such proper training, it would be OK (to arm some school staff).

Well Duh!

That's what FASTER is all about.

Carno gave a well-reasoned argument for the FASTER program. Well done!

. . . Volsky also commented that he wanted to reduce the number of guns in the United States.

Not gonna happen!

Consider this. Recent published estimates place the number of guns in private American citizens' hands at somewhere around four hundred million. That is approaching half a billion. . . .and considering that prior to the Nazi inspired Gun Control Act of 1968, there were no government records kept, there just might be a few more!

Just suppose Volsky and company could get a law passed reducing the number of legal guns to absolute 0, who is going door-to door to collect?

What do you think?

The Second Amendment as an Expression of First Principles

Edward J. Erler
Co-author, The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration

Edward J. Erler is professor emeritus of political science at California State University, San Bernardino. He earned his B.A. from San Jose State University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He has published numerous articles on constitutional topics in journals such as Interpretation, the Notre Dame Journal of Law, and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He was a member of the California Advisory Commission on Civil Rights from 1988-2006 and served on the California Constitutional Revision Commission in 1996. He is the author of The American Polity and co‑author of The Founders on Citizenship and Immigration. This fall he is a visiting distinguished professor of politics at Hillsdale College.

Reprinted by permission from Imprimus, a publication of Hillsdale College. Although this is five years old, it is still pertinent today, in view of the renewed attacks on the Second Amendment. Now retired Justice Stevens advocates repealing the 2nd. 

This is a long read, so find the time to give it your attention. You can also see Dr. Erler's presentation at the end. Added note, fully automatic weapons are not totally illegal. But they are very expensive, and possession without the proper paperwork is illegal. The bold emphasis in the article is my addition.

The following is adapted from a lecture delivered on February 13, 2013, at Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C.

We are currently mired in a frantic debate about the rights of gun owners. One example should suffice to prove that the debate has become hysterical: Second Amendment supporters, one prominent but less than articulate member of Congress alleges, have become “enablers of mass murder.”

Special animus has been directed against so-called assault rifles. These are semi-automatic, not automatic weapons—the latter have been illegal under federal law since the 1930s—because they require a trigger pull for every round fired. Some semi-automatic firearms, to be sure, can be fitted with large-capacity magazines. But what inspires the ire of gun control advocates seems to be their menacing look—somehow they don’t appear fit for polite society. No law-abiding citizen could possibly need such a weapon, we are told—after all, how many rounds from a high-powered rifle are needed to kill a deer? And we are assured that these weapons are not well-adapted for self-defense—that only the military and the police need to have them.

Now it’s undeniable, Senator Dianne Feinstein to the contrary notwithstanding, that semi-automatic weapons such as the AR-15 are extremely well-adapted for home defense—especially against a crime that is becoming more and more popular among criminals, the home invasion.

North Carolina Legislature School Safety Committee Meeting

NC School Safety Cmte Mtg

Wednesday, March 20, I attended the first meeting of the Legislature's School Safety Committee Meeting. There were speakers from several branches of NC government.

A few highlights:

Speaker Tim Moore gave a nice welcoming speech.

A North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) speakers said, "we stand ready too respond" (after an incident) and identify the bad guy before the fact.

The most disconcerting thing I heard at the meeting was in a presentation by Elliott Smith, Acting agent in charge of Fusion Center of the SBI. He quoted inflated statistics published by Bloomberg's front group, Moms Demand Action, that there have been over 300 school shootings since 2013. This is simply not true. It is refuted even by such mainstream publications as USA Today, Time, and the   Washington Post, I noted that one representative challenged Mr. Smith on his facts. I recommend that Mr. Smith take another look, to restore his own credibility.

A couple of takeaways from this meeting-

1. I have been hearing for years how the folks in favor of gun control (which, when you drill down far enough, means gun bans) want to have a conversation or "civilized dialogue". How can you have a conversation with someone who publishes bogus statistics.
2. More importantly, even though the statistics are not as bad as the Mom's state, the stakes are still just as high. It is America's children that are at stake. 

And more recently-

A retired Supreme has opined that the Second Amendment should be repealed. The truth finally outs.

So while the legislative committee had enough gendarmes present that you couldn't stir them with a stick, children are still basically not provided with any realistic protection at many schools. The legislature could, no expense, provide enabling legislation for armed volunteer staff at our schools, and while they are at it, provide them immunity from liability for good faith actions.

Video of some attendees at the meeting

No more gun bans, Mr. President

Below is the text of the letter I recently sent to President Trump. The latest I hear is that he is not calling for a ban on sales of long guns to young adults.  I hope this holds. If you have the time and inclination, it would be good for him to hear from you, too. You can use snail mail, as I did with this letter, or you can click to use the 

White House Contact Form

______________________________________

March 6, 2018

  

The President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20500 

  

SUBJECT: No more gun bans 

Dear Mr. President: 

  

I met you once, at the 2015 NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville. You had just spoken and invited the press to meet with you out in the hallway. I was the last person to ask you a question. You had fielded several questions about economic issues, etc., and had turned and started walking away. 

  

I called out, “One gun question!” 

  

You stopped, turned around and came back. I asked if elected to the presidency, would you use that office as a bully pulpit to advocate for national reciprocity.*  

  

You replied,

You are on you own

Trouble strikes, and who ya gonna call?

• Ghostbusters?
• FBI?
• Broward County, (FL) Sheriff's Office?

If any of them comes, how long will it take? By the way, the FBI doesn't answer 911 calls. So you should prepare to be your own first responder.

Five years ago, I wrote a column about the electric toothbrush, comparing it's two minute timer to the time it takes for police response. I assumed in that column that the police would respond in a timely manner. Below* is that column's text again. What has changed since then?

We have learned that sometimes the FBI doesn't follow up on leads. Maybe they were trying to hard to "create a link" between President Trump and the Russki's. I don't know.

We also learn that one or more sheriffs's deputies have been accused of waiting outside while there was wanton slaughter going on inside. What's up with that? Protocols changed after Columbine.

Otherwise, it seems much is the same at our nation's schools, with relatively few exceptions. Maybe one SRO at a school. That's not enough, especially if he doesn't have the chutzpah to go after the murderer.

If you are in a mall, a church, or sitting at home, the situation is always the same, you are on your own. What's your plan?

One other thing has changed. The Left is attempting to pillory the NRA. They want to vilify you and me for the horrible acts of a crazy person. If you are not a member of the NRA, and are a gun owner, I urge you to join. I am a recruiter and you can join at the link below. As Ben Franklin said,

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.

------------------------------------------------------

*The electric toothbrush

My electric toothbrush operates for two minutes exactly, then shuts off. Some nights, two minutes seems like an eternity.

Police response time to 911 calls is five times that, about ten minutes. Nobody's fault, that's just the way it is.

Why do some people insist that our children, involuntarily placed in gun free zones (our public schools) wait those ten minutes after the predator has arrived and begun his slaughter?

Law enforcement officers are now trained that the first on the scene goes on in, not waiting for backup. This is to minimize the carnage perpetrated by the predator. Armed and trained teachers, volunteers, and police on the scene can reduce the carnage even more by further reducing the lag time.

Think about that the next time you brush your teeth!

------------------------------------------------------

You can join the NRA (or upgrade your membership) HERE.

NRA ok's packing at Dallas meeting

The NRA meeting this year in Dallas will once again recognize the right to carry, as has been the case for the last several meetings. Here, with a link to the NRAAM site, is their official statement.

Firearms Policy for the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits

Crowd at the NRAAM in Nashville, 2015

During the 2018 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center and the Omni Dallas Hotel in accordance with Texas law.  When carrying your firearm remember to follow all federal, state, and local laws.

With the recent display of a billboard stating "Kill the NRA", members in attendance may wish to consider carrying their defensive firearms.

Other things to consider when traveling to Dallas-

If you drive, be sure you are aware of the carry laws in states you pass through. Two sources for information are Handgunlaw.us; and an app called Legal Heat, available for Android or Apple.

If you fly, be sure and follow the guidelines of both your airline and the TSA for checking a firearm in  your checked baggage, never in carry-on.

TSA guidelines are available HERE.

Each airline has its own rules, too. Southwest rules are HERE.

Part of Delta's policy states, "All firearms checked as baggage must be picked up at the Baggage Service Office upon arrival at your final destination. ID will be required to claim your checked firearm." It has been reported that Delta puts zip ties on luggage that contains a firearm, so don't expect to have access to your firearm until after you gain access to a tool to remove the zip tie. Maybe a cheap multi-tool should reside in an outside pocket of your checked bag.

A case such as THIS, with a combo lock (no key to lose) would work well for the handgun. I suggest a second one for the ammo, in the same luggage.

One last thing, if your plane has an emergency landing in New York or New Jersey, and you take possession of your baggage that contains a firearm, DO NOT attempt to re-check that luggage to continue your flight. Rent a car and stow that locked baggage in the trunk and drive to Philly. Why, New York and New Jersey WILL put you in jail. If you find this strong suggestion hard to believe, do your own research.

They want to kill the NRA?

From NRA FB page

So now someone wants to kill the NRA? Do they know who the NRA is? Do they not understand that the NRA is not just a group of leaders in suburban Washington?

No, the NRA includes their neighbors, maybe some of their friends, their doctors, ministers, store clerks, and literally millions of Americans as well as other liberty lovers around the globe.  "The NRA" also includes many people who have an affinity for the organization, although they are not dues-paying members.

Are you a member of this second group? Have you been thinking about joining, but have just not gotten around to it? As an NRA recruiter, I can offer a reduced membership cost for about three more weeks.

Current pricing is shown in this chart:

One-Year ($40) - $30
Three-Year ($100) - $85
Five-Year ($140) - $100
Life ($1,500) - $600
Distinguished Life ($750) - $500
Junior Life ($750) - $500

You can join (or renew) by clicking this LINK.

The NRA is not a perfect organization, but is among the most effective. At this time, with the left and the media (but then I repeat myself) mounting a campaign against guns, now is the time to join.

Arming school staff

A Facebook acquaintance posed this question regarding arming and training school staff to protect their students: "Another thought... should we turn our schools into potential war zones with all these teachers carrying firearms... what kind of message does that send to our children and what does that say about the quality of life here in America?"

GFZ sign at a VA Center

I had to respond this way: The schools already are worse than a war zone, where (generally) adult combatants fight.

They are canned hunts created by government, wherein the students are the prey, and the predator enters virtually unopposed, with up to ten or fifteen minutes before the police arrive. After the police arrive, there is another time lag before medics can enter to treat the wounded and save lives.

I am less interested in what kind of message is sent to the children, and more interested in mitigating carnage when the predator arrives.

Many peaceable Americans arm themselves, then go about their daily business, interacting with one another in businesses, stores, and churches. No one knows necessarily who they are, because most have their weapons concealed.

One thing they don’t do, is place NO GUNS ALLOWED signs in their front yards. Accordingly, most burglars are careful to try to avoid the ‘hot burglary’ option, because they understand that they have a good chance of getting shot. They prefer unoccupied houses.

Likewise, human predators prefer locations where they assume their victims will be unarmed. Schools, synagogues, and churches are often their preferred killing fields (btw, many churches are now providing their own internal security).

That is the state of life here in America and in much of the world. This means we have three choices when it comes to our schools. We can remain at status quo, a recipe for more disasters (head in sand); we can implement airport type security, a very expen$ive proposition which is simply not going to happen in most jurisdictions; or we can provide appropriately trained school (http://fastersaveslives.org/) staff with the ability to be more than human shields.

That’s just the way things are."

So there you have it. Three choices...

1. Status quo

2. Expensive airport security

3. Trained and armed staff

The fix suggested by the left can be simplified by just saying, "one more gun ban".

Who is going to do that nationwide? I don't believe Congress will. An attempted ban/confiscation of semi-auto rifles would see a large non-compliance in the gun world.

From Massad Ayoob's blog:

"Simply banning and confiscating AR15 rifles and other guns with magazines of significant cartridge capacity is the demand once again. Let’s see, fifteen million guns to be confiscated. The cheapest for which one can be bought is about $700. That’s $10.5 billion in compensation that would be due to their legitimate owners…and it grossly understates the cost, because so many AR15s carry four-figure price tags. (Hey, gun control rabble-rousers – you weren’t planning on confiscating property legally purchased and responsibly owned by American citizens without compensation…were you?)

And where will the funding come from to send our nation’s 800,000 law enforcement officers to more than a hundred million homes to find and confiscate these guns? And what tragedy and bloodshed and shattering of rights might arise from that?"

Musing on concealed carry permits

North Carolina qualification target

I recently applied for my North Carolina (NC) carry permit. The permitting process in NC involves taking an all-day class (Old School Protection in Johnston County) which includes a shooting qualification test at close range. I should get my permit within 90-ish days of applying.

As I was taking the class, in the back of my mind I was musing about the different requirements of various states. With a variety of requirements among the states, the results are always about the same - -

In the mid 1970's I got a "Pistol Toter's Permit" in Georgia. It had no training requirements. To this day, permits in Georgia do not have specific training requirements. I had a Tennessee permit for over twenty years. The requirements there are similar to NC requirements, a day of training with a shooting test. Both Tennessee and North Carolina require a background check; and North Carolina requires a check to see if you are reported to be a loony tune. Florida requires that you show some evidence of training and have a background check.

There are differences between between these states, and between them and other states. Tennessee just a few years ago enacted "Constitutional Vehicle Carry", meaning that with just a few prohibited areas, one may legally carry any firearm they lawfully own or possess in their vehicle. North Carolina, on the other hand has had "Constitutional Open Carry"* since 1921. In Florida, Open Carry (with a few exceptions) is strictly forbidden.

Some states require no permit, including Vermont, which has no permitting process, and Arizona, which makes permitting optional, for those who might want a permit for interstate travel to states that recognize the permit. Also, there's that pesky Federal gun-free school zone act that apparently makes an exception for permitted individuals.

Now what is the result, as mentioned at the beginning?

• Peaceable citizens, with rare exceptions, act responsibly when armed, whether permitted or not.
• The permitting process is a de-facto infringement on the right to bear arms.
• Bad actors with felony convictions or misdemeanor domestic violence offenses often continue to ignore laws and be ongoing bad actors.
• Bad actors, all to frequently, ignore gun-free-zone signs, and continue to kill and maim.
• Most legislators are accessories-before-the-fact, because they continue to mandate gun-free-zones for peaceable citizens, thus creating killing fields for mass-murderers as we have now seen in Florida.

For further information on state laws on guns, check out handgunlaw.us

* H/T John Richardson of Only Guns and Money blog

Presidential election, 2016

I have stayed mostly silent, because this far out, it's anybody's guess.

I definitely plan to vote for Cruz if he is still in the race during the primary.

In the general election, I don't see how I could vote for any of the socialist/statist candidates on the Democratic side.

That leaves me with the Republican candidate.

I hope it will not be another of those "hold your nose and vote" situations.

Never forget, Clinton likes the Australian method of gun control.

Simply put, its

COLLECT & CRUSH!

Should the TFA sue Knoxville over its banning handgun permit holders at the Knoxville Fair?

See KnoxGunGuy post HERE.

Do you agree that 2015 is the year for Gun Free Zones to go? Read my commentary HERE.

Gratuitous gun ban zones must go

Recent massacres in Charleston and Chattanooga show the fatal error of having these set-asides for criminal predators. Read more at Knox Gun Guy.

Updated: Gun question for Tennessee House 14th District candidates

Karen Carson responded today. Her answer is here.

Gun question for Tennessee House 14th District candidates

Zachary responded

Carson did not

Read about it at KnoxGunGuy

Ted Cruz announces presidency run

Cruz announces at Liberty University. Thats enough to give any statist heartburn!

Talking confiscation again

In the wake of more shootings in Gun Free Zones, politicians are ramping up the conversation on gun bans. Meaningful gun bans can only mean gun confiscation. I discuss the unknown, possibly very high cost of such efforts at Examiner HERE.

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If you find this article to be informative or interesting, please share the link with your friends. Feel free to share the entire article, including this link back: http://goodhillpress.blogspot.com/

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Disclaimer: The information and ideas presented in this column are provided for informational purposes only. Gun rights, like all other Constitutionally recognized rights, must be exercised responsibly. Firearms, like cars, kitchen knives and life itself all can be dangerous. You should get professional training as part of any plan to use firearms for any purpose. I have made a reasonable, good-faith effort to assure that the content of this column is accurate. I have no control over what you do, and specifically accept no responsibility for anything you do as a result of reading my columns. Any action or lack of action on your part is strictly your responsibility.

What we've been sayin'

Heinlein said, as quoted in goodreads,

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

FOX59 quotes some supporting statistics from Indy Police:

Here’s a look at the stats for Saturday Night Problems in the month of April:

• April 5: 300 teens at Circle Centre

• April 12: 200 teens in large groups

• April 19: 400 teens and shots fired

• April 26 (NRA Convention): 100 teens, dispersed quickly

Yet, Knoxville and Farragut bosses still keep citizens disarmed in city parks.

H/T to SayUncle

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Reading List

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If you find this article to be informative or interesting, please share the link with your friends. Feel free to share the entire article, including this link back: http://goodhillpress.blogspot.com/

-----------------------------------

Disclaimer: The information and ideas presented in this column are provided for informational purposes only. Gun rights, like all other Constitutionally recognized rights, must be exercised responsibly. Firearms, like cars, kitchen knives and life itself all can be dangerous. You should get professional training as part of any plan to use firearms for any purpose. I have made a reasonable, good-faith effort to assure that the content of this column is accurate. I have no control over what you do, and specifically accept no responsibility for anything you do as a result of reading my columns. Any action or lack of action on your part is strictly your responsibility.