Tag: NRA

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Politics Politics Feature

It Ain’t Beanbag: Local Campaigns Sling Mud in Last-Ditch Efforts

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

So you think this is the hard stuff — President Trump calling his opponent Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe” and using the term “criminal enterprise” to describe the Biden family — or Biden reciprocating by calling the president a “clown” and saying to him, “Man, why don’t you just shut up!”

Both presidential candidates have addressed each other coarsely, though Trump certainly has been worse. Think of Trump’s newest audience-participation contribution: When a disapproved-of public figure is mentioned, the crowd chants, “Lock him up!” That epithet has even been hurled at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the hard-working, non-political chief of infectious disease research in these pandemic times. It’s the sort of thing that is regarded as unprecedented — as a sign of irreversible decline in the civility of our political process.

Jackson Baker

Gabby Salinas (second from left) at Shelby Farms

Well, the fact is, such invective is par for the course, and always has been in the practice of our national democracy. Just look at some of the stuff that’s being put out in our local elections.

Here’s a recent mailout from the Tennessee Republican Party, up in Nashville, aimed at Democrat Gabby Salinas, candidate for local state House District 97: Side one warns boldly, “Gabby Salinas and her Socialist friends are taking aim at our guns.” To the right of this is a huge, ugly, bright-red gun sight, and underneath the warning and the graphic is a triad of heads: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Gabby Salinas, and Bernie Sanders. If that side of the mailer is outrageous, side two is all of that and a blatant fraud as well.

The reverse side of the mailer is loaded up with more gun symbols and with the information that Salinas is “Endorsed by Memphis Democrat Socialists of America; Endorsed by far-left Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren; Supports Socialist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

Jim McCarter

John Gillespie at Cordova Community Center

The outright fraud part comes when the piece declaims “Gabby Salinas Earns an F Rating from the NRA!” sandwiched in between headshots of Warren and AOC and overlaying this legend: “Here’s what the NRA says about candidates [note that plural] who earn an F rating. True enemy of gun owners’ rights. A consistent anti-gun candidate who always opposes gun owners’ rights.” It seems clear that this scourging text was not composed by the NRA with Salinas in mind. She isn’t a “consistent anti-gun candidate.” She isn’t even a “consistent” candidate. This is only her second race! And she runs as what she is, a cancer survivor who came to St. Jude from Bolivia as a child to get medical treatment that saved her life, and stayed on as a naturalized American and as a research scientist interested most of all in public health — someone given the highest possible endorsement by Marlo Thomas of St. Jude.

The negative lines quoted above from the mailer were more likely aimed at Warren or AOC or some other person concerned about firearm violence. Both Salinas and her opponent, John Gillespie, a grant coordinator for Trezevant Episcopal Home, have issued mailouts touting their own claims to office.

And the Tennessee Tomorrow PAC has put out its own attack mailer on Gillespie. It brandishes a cartoon image of the GOP candidate and is in the style of a poem, entitled “Little Johnny Gillespie wants to work on Capitol Hill.” It begins: “There was nothing Little Gillespie/really wanted to be./Why be a doctor? Why dig a ditch?/Why do anything? My daddy is rich!” And it continues in kind.

The contest between Salinas and Gillespie in House District 97 is considered one of the closest and most hard-fought on the ballot, though it is only one of several similar ones taking place in hybrid city-suburban districts this year that will test the Republican hold on the shifting populations of the suburban fringe area.

For the record, candidate Salinas faces the end game with a financial balance of $77,945.43, while Gillespie has $43,430.77.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Stupid and Dangerous

I remember it like it was yesterday — the morning of my 16th birthday! As I came down the stairs from my bedroom, my father grinned at me and said, “You’re legal to drive now, son! Here are the keys to the family car. Have fun!”

It was weird at first, because I’d never driven a car, so I had to figure out how to start it. But once I did that and discovered that the “R” on that stick thing behind the steering wheel stood for “reverse,” I backed out of our garage as fast as I could (scraping the fender, just a little) and hit the road. What a day it was! I picked up my friends and we drove all over town. I learned about stop signs and turn signals (Who knew!) and how to make the tires squeal and how to honk the horn at old ladies and all kinds of cool stuff. I did run over the neighbor’s dog coming home (Sorry, Bucky!), but hey, how else are you going to learn?

Governor Bill Lee

Okay, that was a lie. The truth is, I had to take a driver’s education course when I turned 15 and a half. Then I could only take the car out with one of my parents for a few weeks after that. When they were finally convinced I wouldn’t kill myself or anyone else, they gave me the keys to the family Bel Air for a night. I remember the rush of freedom and power I felt when I first got behind the wheel and headed out on my own. But I’d earned it.

That’s how it is with a lot of things in life. You pay your dues. You take lessons. You learn. Especially when it comes to activities that can endanger lives. Like driving a car — or owning and shooting a gun. It’s just common sense.

The state of Tennessee has traditionally had pretty loose gun laws, but on January 1st a new “enhanced handgun permit” came into effect. It allows you to carry a concealed weapon if you pay $65 for a permit and take a 90-minute training course, available at an internet near you. Not very reassuring. But, unbelievably, even that law is now perceived as too restrictive.  

Governor Bill Lee and his GOP posse in the General Assembly have decided we don’t need no stinking training or permits to carry around a gun. They think Tennesseans should be able to just go get themselves a firearm and strap it on, partner. You can carry it around on your hip or conceal it in your jacket. Doesn’t really matter. The important thing is that we have lots more guns among us, so we’ll be, er, safer. It’s called “Constitutional carry,” and it’s very likely going to become law.

It makes no sense. In fact, letting anyone over 21 carry a gun in public without restrictions or training goes against one of the core dictates (fantasies) of the NRA/gun fetishist doctrine: the idea of a “good guy with a gun” who will save you if a “bad guy with a gun” starts shooting. When the new law goes into effect, you’ll have no idea if that armed dude sitting next to you in Huey’s is a licensed, trained firearm carrier (good guy!) or a meth addict who just bought a gun at a pawn shop and might drop it on the floor and put a bullet in your kid (bad guy!). All you’ll really know is that he has a tiny penis and is terrified of being in public without having visible evidence that he can shoot you.

Seriously, who really believes this crap, anymore? More than 90 percent of Tennesseans think gun ownership should come with a permit, a background check, and at least some sort of requisite training. Law enforcement agencies are opposed to unrestricted carry, as are most major business organizations and corporations located in the state, as are many gun shop owners and most shooting instructors.

So let’s review, shall we? Those opposed to Constitutional carry: the great majority of Tennessee citizens, most law enforcement agencies, gun safety instructors, and most of the business community.

Those in favor: gun manufacturers, the NRA and other gun lobbyists, Republican lawmakers, and Governor Bill Lee. Any questions about who they’re working for?

I grew up in rural Missouri. I have shot and owned guns most of my life. I think Americans should have the right to own a firearm. But if you feel the need to carry a gun around in public, the public has the right to demand that you undergo at least some minimal amount of safety instruction and licensing. Allowing anyone who can afford to buy (or steal) a handgun to carry it around in public is stupid and dangerous. But “stupid and dangerous” seems to be the state motto these days.

Categories
News News Blog

Group Calls on U.S. Senate to Pass Gun Safety Laws

A group, joined by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Memphis), gathered Thursday near Memphis City Hall to demand “common sense” gun laws.

The Tennessee Chapter of Moms Demand Action’s volunteer leader Kat McRitchie said gun violence in the country is an ”epidemic.”

“Within one generation, gun violence had shifted from an abstract possibility to a daily reality for children in America, and I decided enough was enough,” McRitchie said. ”I had to be a part of the solution.”

Gun violence is a public health crisis that requires “urgent action to stop it,” McRitchie said, calling for Congress to take action by passing background check and red flag laws.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would “utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun possession are not able to obtain firearms.”

However, the U.S. Senate, McRitchie said, continues to do “absolutely nothing to address gun violence.”

“That’s why we are here today, to call on the U.S. Senate to do its job to reduce gun violence, beginning with passing legislation to require background checks on all gun sales and also to enact a strong red flag law,” McRitchie said. “It is unacceptable to make public statements after high-profile shootings while refusing to pass legislation that could prevent them.”

McRitchie believes that requiring background checks for all gun sales is “one of the most efficient tools to keep guns out of the wrong hands.” She said there are currently loopholes in the system that allow “people who shouldn’t acquire guns.”

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The red flag law that the group is calling for would allow law enforcement to ask the court to temporarily suspend a person’s access to guns if there is evidence showing that person poses a threat to themselves or others.

“These are proven policies that help save lives,” McRitchie said.

Cohen said the House of Representatives has “done its job and continues to do its job.” He also called on the Senate to pass background check and red flag laws. Cohen said the country needs “reasonable and responsible gun bills to protect people.”

“The Republican party is a hostage of the NRA,” Cohen said. “President [Donald] Trump is a hostage of the NRA. The NRA does not care about people’s safety. It cares about making money and selling guns and selling bullets. They care about raising money and spending it in ways that we’ve seen are not appropriate.”

Cohen said it’s important to keep pressure on the Senate so that the lawmakers will set a date to hear the legislation and “put the voice of the American people into action and save lives.”

Specifically, Cohen called on Tennesseans to reach out to Sen. Lamar Alexander who he said is a “prime person who might be receptive to this message.”

The Numbers

Every day in the United States 100 people die by gun fire, according to the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.

There were 27 active shooting events, resulting in 18 deaths, in the country last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) reports. The FBI defines an active shooter event as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.”

There were 337 mass shootings in 2018 and have been 326 so far in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The research and data collection organization, which gathers data from news reports, police records, and other sources, defines a mass shooting as a single incident in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are injured or killed.

The archive reports that so far this year there have been 30,313 total deaths related to gun violence. This includes unintentional shootings, homicides, and suicides.

Gun Violence Archive

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Tennessee Gun Control: First, Do No Harm

CREDIT: Danziger

Stand up if you’re not surprised that President Trump caved in on his resolve to “fight the NRA” if necessary to get effective public-safety legislation on guns. No, don’t, on second thought. So massive and sudden a change in the disposition of planetary weight could cause tectonic shifts

and endanger the earth’s equilibrium in its orbit about the sun.

Nobody should be surprised, any more than they were surprised when Trump backed off from a promise to sign bipartisan legislation on DACA a month earlier. Nor when he abandoned a dozen other promises of constructive action.

Danziger

This is a president who is on a permanent campaign swing, but in the 14 months that he has actually held office, has seemingly learned nothing about governing itself. Even those few circumstances his devotees can tout as “triumphs” — the appointment of conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, the passage of a monumental tax cut favoring the wealthy — are merely services demanded by and performed for the sake of the special interests who see in Trump’s tenure an opportunity to aggrandize themselves.

But the cave-in to the National Rifle Association, whose influence in the gun bill just proposed by Trump is all too obvious, is especially disheartening. The legislative package announced by Trump — the same President Trump who had the nerve to chide members of Congress for being “afraid of” the NRA — carefully avoids any particulars that would go against the wishes of the gun lobby.

One of the bill’s main provisions would offer support for teachers willing to pack “defensive” weaponry at school facilities. That means more guns for sale, and that presumably suits the NRA and the firearms industry just fine. Another provision would ostensibly firm up background checks but continue to leave the ubiquitous gun shows immune to such controls.

Ideas expressed by Trump during his breast-beating “fight-the-NRA” moment e.g., raising the minimum age for firearms purchases to 21 or doing anything to curtail the sale of assault weapons — are unsurprisingly missing. Given that some of these stricter measures did end up in a bill passed at the behest of the Republican Governor and GOP-dominated legislature of Florida, it is obvious that any true relief will have to come at the state level.

Is there any hope then for Tennessee, where bills friendly to the gun lobby normally have an easier time than resolutions in praise of springtime? Surprisingly, there might be. A task force on approaches to firearms control has just been appointed by Governor Bill Haslam, and, in the apparent deference to that, two gun bills — one to arm teachers, another to reduce (!) the financial penalties for unlicensed gun possession — have been put on hold.

In the context of the assembly’s gun-happy recent history, doing nothing amounts to a constructive act. We don’t normally put much stock in the appointment of commissions or task forces as substitutes for action, but this one puts us in mind of the famous health-care axiom: “First, do no harm.” That may be the best we can hope for.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

Hear It Now: Silence is Deadly

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Back in the spring, as we followed the peregrinations of the Tennessee General Assembly on its way to adjournment, we tried our damnedest to be optimistic that the 99 House members and 33 state senators would eschew the kind of tomfoolery that, over the years, has made the state legislature grist for grim humor — not just nationally, but around the world.

Remember the Great Debate of some years past regarding the legality of eating roadkill? Or the alarms raised by some heroic Paul Reveres in the legislature just a couple of seasons ago that a new mop sink in the Capitol was actually being constructed as a foot-bath for Islamic followers of strict Sharia law?

Greg Cravens

And the bill to take away state aid from parents of failing schoolchildren, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the bathroom bill aimed at transgenders, the attempt to make the Bible the official state book, the actual passage of a bill proclaiming an official state rifle?

For the most part the “crazy” bills (the adjective derives from a head-scratching comment on things by a perplexed Governor Bill Haslam) were shelved or delayed in the last session, and we expressed our gratitude.

But a few lulus did get through — most of them, like the aforesaid official-rifle bill, expressing the wishes of the all-powerful gun lobby. And, given the horrific event that occurred in Las Vegas on Sunday night, the painstakingly prepared massacre of music festival attendees by a gun nut from the shattered windows of his lofty hotel suite (resulting in 59 deaths as of press time, and hundreds of wounded), we are inescapably reminded of another bill approved by our state’s legislators this past spring.

This was the “Tennessee Hearing Prevention Act” — necessary, said its successful sponsors, to shield the ears of gun-users from the sound of discharged weaponry. What the bill did, in real-world terms, was to remove penalties for across-the-counter sale of silencers.

And it passed.

And the reason it comes to mind is that a bill providing the same result is due in the next week or two to be heard by Congress — that’s the Congress of the U.S.A., mind you. Keep in mind that the only way in which concert-goers in Vegas were alerted to the unfolding tragedy and later enabled to take steps to save themselves was by hearing the rapid fire of the assaulting madman’s automatic rifle and timing their escape efforts for the intervals in which his damning rat-a-tat briefly ceased.

It will be said in Washington, as it was in Nashville, that the legislation (which will be backed to the hilt by an unregenerate NRA) is necessary to protect the hearing of hunters or of innocent, Second Amendment-obeying sportsmen or whomever.

Hear it now: This was, and is, Shinola, a part of the ongoing disgrace that is the continuing domination of public life in this state and in this country by the firearms merchants.

Categories
Editorial Opinion

How to Handle an “Active Shooter”

No, the title does not refer to any of the legions of gun owners among us who regularly undertake practice sessions with their pieces — be it at the range or outdoors, with .22 caliber peashooters or Uzis.

“Active shooters” is a law-enforcement term for the kinds of armed mass murderers who have plagued our society from Columbine to Kalamazoo and who seem to be multiplying in sync with the well-documented “anger” at large in the U.S. of A. these days.

And, Archie Bunker or Donald Trump or Wayne LaPierre notwithstanding, the term definitely does not apply to the kind of amateur would-be gunslinger hero who imagines that he could successfully intervene in a mano-a-mano shoot-out against the real deal: the marauders who invade our private and (increasingly) public spaces and permanently deprive those who are dear to us of the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness guaranteed to them by the Constitution.

In a succinct and compelling address to a luncheon meeting of the Memphis Rotary Club on Tuesday, Robert Carlson, who heads the Active Shooter Program of the Memphis Police Department and coordinates local training with the FBI, scrupulously avoided commenting on the politics of gun control or its converse, open carry. In outlining the steps that ordinary citizens are advised to follow in the case of armed and murderous intruders, he said that armed citizens have seldom demonstrated any usefulness in such situations. He added that the citizen vigilantes who happen to be packing when an active shooter arrives on the scene are far more likely to get in the way of law-enforcement efforts to deal with the threat than to help the situation.  

In fact, “Don’t go trying to hurt the bad guy” is one of the precepts of the MPD’s “Avoid, Deny, Defend” model for citizens. The recommended steps? “Avoid” means to get the hell out, as far away from the action as possible, through a window or by whatever means puts the most distance between you and the armed threat. “Deny” involves remedies such as locking or barricading doors. And, finally, “Defend” means to try to disarm or disable the intruder and “put the pain train” on him when avoidance or escape are impossible. The one rule in such circumstances is to guarantee, by any means necessary, that “you will go home.” Then, and only then, is when a firearm on your person becomes a viable key to survival.

Meanwhile, as citizens are presumably following these rules, law enforcement units will be rushing to the scene, with two main rules of their own in mind: 1) Stop the killing; and 2) Stop the dying — the latter involving efforts to aid the injured and wounded.

“Active Shooter” incidents are regarded as “the Super Bowl of law enforcement,” the ultimate challenge for specialized training, Carlson said. And surely he’s right. The bottom line? Whenever possible, we should leave law enforcement to the pros.

Categories
Letter From The Editor Opinion

Serious Christians

CREDIT: Bruce VanWyngarden

Bruce VanWyngarden

What is the picture on your computer’s desktop screen? Your kids? Your dog? Maybe a memorable vacation photo? Mine is a shot I took one October morning in 2012 as I was about to wade into the Little Red River. A mist is coming off the water, lit golden by a rising sun. The streamside trees are glowing yellow and red and that pale, dry green that says autumn is here. The photo captures everything I like about being on a stream. I put it on my computer so I’d see it each morning when I began to work — a reminder of the beauty that’s so easy to lose sight of in the hustle of everyday life.

I haven’t really looked at it in a long time.

That’s because what’s beautiful can fade with time and familiarity. So can what’s horrific — like mass shootings of innocent people by a crazy person. What unfolded on an Oregon college campus last week was the now-familiar nightmare: an insane gunman with multiple weapons acting out some disturbed fantasy, destroying the lives, hopes, and dreams of others before shooting himself or being shot or captured.

Next come the somber statements of support for the families of the victims, the prayer vigils, the tweets of sympathy, the Facebook postings, the presidential statement calling for lawmakers to pass some sort of sensible gun-control laws, the funerals.

Then comes the gun-fetish chorus, spurred on by Big Ammo and the NRA: “It was a gun-free zone, liberals … “; “If one of those students had been armed … “; “Obama will take our guns … “; “The Second Amendment guarantees my rights … “; “Why don’t we ban cars?”

And on it goes, the perpetual circle of death and dialogue that is unique to this country. We’ve had 294 mass shootings in 2015, more than one a day. It’s because we’ve created a culture where gun rights trump all else. And we have allowed it to flourish because not enough people have the guts to stand up and say “Enough. This insanity doesn’t happen anywhere else on the planet. We have a gun problem, and we’re going to address it.”

Instead, we get the moronic response of Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, who, in the aftermath of the Oregon massacre, said, “I would encourage my fellow Christians who are serious about their faith to think about getting a handgun carry permit. Our enemies are armed. We must do likewise.”

Not exactly the approach Jesus would have taken. But then, maybe he wasn’t as serious about his faith as Ron is.

Then, as icing on the cake, comes a story this week out of Blount County, Tennessee: Eight-year-old McKayla Dyer was approached by an 11-year-old neighbor boy who wanted to see her puppy. When McKayla refused to let him, the boy went back to his house, grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun, returned, and killed McKayla.

If only she’d been armed, like a serious Christian, she might have been able to shoot the 11-year-old first, and we could have avoided this tragedy. Because the answer is always — say it with me, now — more guns.

Jesus.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Dodging Bullets

CREDIT: goir | Dreamstime.com

goir | Dreamstime.com

I’m ready for this summer to end. It’s got nothing to do with the heat or school or the lack of interesting sports on TV. I’m just exhausted. I’m angry. I’m sick of reading, hearing, seeing news of people getting shot.

At the time I started writing this, if the United States put up a sign that says “__ Days without a Mass Shooting,” the number would be zero. Hopefully it will have increased by the time anyone reads this, but I’m not holding my breath. (Finally, something more depressing than that sign on Union that tells us how long it’s been since somebody died in a fire.)

First it was the white supremacist kid, with guns he wasn’t supposed to be able to purchase. So we took down all the Confederate flags. Look everyone: progress! It only took 150 years!  

Then it was a guy named Mohammad, who was either a depressed suicidal alcoholic or a freedom-hatin’ Moozlim, depending on whom you ask.

Then a 57-year-old man shot up a movie theater in Louisiana, and he is being described as a “drifter.” I can’t wait to see the anti-drifting legislation no doubt being drafted this very moment.

What happens next week? What explanation? Which victims will we mark on our quickly filling Gun Violence Bingo cards? How many more people have to get shot before someone acknowledges that thoughts and prayers aren’t going to make this problem go away? When is it going to happen here?

The N.R.A. has our redneck uncles convinced that the president is gunna take away our guns!!!!!!! — yet here we are — and it turns out, more guns does not equal more safety. Thanks, Obama.  

But this isn’t on the president. He’s just as frustrated as I am. Truth is, our redneck uncles aren’t the only ones the N.R.A.’s gotten to. Millions upon millions of dollars are being spent to influence gun policy, and it is working. But even that’s only one facet of the problem.

So is racism. Untreated mental illness is a problem, too. Radicalization is a problem, as is sexism, and so on. Drifters might be a problem, I guess? But none of these things are THE problem. Guns are.

Guns are the bloody thread tying this miserable summer together. Weekly mass shootings should be unacceptable in a developed and civilized society, and it is the duty of those elected to represent us to do something about it. Or at the very least, act like they care.

Want to “put an end to these senseless tragedies”? Acknowledge the problem, and do something to make it stop. Say it by name. Say it with me: Guns. Are. The Problem.

Stop making excuses. Stop saying “This is not the time to talk politics.” If not now, when? If Columbine wasn’t the time, Aurora wasn’t the time, Newtown wasn’t the time, and neither were Charleston and Chattanooga — can someone please give me a call when this time arrives?

Stop saying “guns don’t kill people, people do.” Would you say “Hammers don’t put nails in walls, people do?” A gun’s explicit purpose is to kill or wound. That’s it. It doesn’t cut vegetables or open mail or hit baseballs. It has one job. It is a problem, then, that the United States comprises four percent of the world’s population but owns 42 percent of the world’s civilian guns.

It’s a problem that clerical errors and loopholes in the background check process cost lives and have ruined countless others. It’s a problem that a felon can take his grandma to a gun store to buy him a gun “for being a good boy” (which he then used to kill his 8-year-old son and then himself).

It is a problem that, in some places, it’s more difficult to purchase Sudafed or spray paint than it is a firearm.

It is a problem that these acts of violence are making people afraid, and their response is to buy guns. That’s like sitting out in the sun to get rid of a sunburn.

It is a problem that people interpret the Second Amendment to mean they can and should walk around Target with assault rifles.

How can anybody say with a straight face that is what the “Founding Fathers” intended? I think there’s a pretty good chance James Madison, if asked, would say “My bad, you guys, we totally left out a word. Why on earth do you need all these killing machines? This isn’t what we intended at all. The future sucks.”

It does indeed. And the worst part is, nobody’s doing anything to fix it.

Jen Clarke is an unapologetic Memphian and digital marketing strategist.

Categories
Letters To The Editor Opinion

What They Said (April 23, 2015) …

CREDIT: Greg Cravens

Greg Cravens

About Bruce VanWyngarden’s editor’s note, “NRA Foreplay in Nashville” …

Tennessee has far more vehicle deaths than firearm-related deaths. None of you want to outlaw texting/talking on the phone or enforce stricter DUI laws. Some people will have accidents with their firearms. Just like so many people have accidents in cars or playing sports. None of you pretend socialists actually care about saving lives – you are just anti-gun.

Jason

I’m hearing talk of a newly introduced bill designed for petting zoos, “Pistols for Peacocks.” I can hear the goats screaming in disgust already.

Dave Clancy

About the Flyer’s editorial on guns in parks legislation, “Veto It, Bill” …

Written like a true ingrained/naive civil rights bigot, and I never give the time of day to civil rights bigots. The real question that needs to be answered is just who at the Flyer anonymously wrote this slanted tripe? Someone needs to man/woman up.

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler, someone using a pen-name and avatar is challenging someone else to man up?

CL Mullins

About Wendi C. Thomas’ story, “Cuba, Si!” …

I went to Cuba on a People to People trip in February. It was absolutely amazing! I want to go back to stay in some hotel particulares as opposed to the nationally owned hotels; although, the Hotel National in Havana was pretty amazing!

What really hit me is how the embargo has hurt not just Cubans, but Americans, too. Cuba has a pretty successful medical system. The country has its own biotech industry and has created a drug that is very successful in preventing amputations due to complications from diabetes. We have no such drug in the U.S. and won’t until the embargo ends.

CSH

About Jackson Baker’s post, “Haslam Remains Dubious About Bible Bill and Provisions of Gun Bill” …

I firmly believe that we should pass a constitutional amendment that anyone responsible for passing three laws that are later declared unconstitutional by the courts be removed from office. Call it the “Three Strikes for Dumbass Politicians” amendment.

Charley Eppes

Veto them both. I don’t think he will though, especially the gun bill. That would kill his chances of being chosen as a VP running mate this year since the Republicans are dependent upon the big gun manufacturers and their affiliate groups, mainly the NRA.

Olmanriver

About Bianca Phillips’ post, “Ultra-sound Bill Introduced” …

I grew up around many ultra-conservative Christians who were very anti-abortion … until they had a daughter get pregnant in high school. Then they were all about getting a convenience abortion so that little Sally didn’t have to put her life on hold. I knew a handful of girls at my high school whose parents made sure to get their daughter’s “issue” fixed, even though they were staunchly anti-abortion.

Personally, I don’t like abortion, but I do think it’s necessary, and I think it’s a better alternative to have it be legal than to have a bunch of coat hanger attempts and quack doctors performing these things.

GroveRebel84

About National Volunteer Week …

In celebration of National Volunteer Week, I am writing to recognize the residents of our community whose lives have been enriched through the feeling that comes from helping others. I encourage you to find a worthy cause with which to volunteer.

I give my time to the American Cancer Society because cancer has touched everyone in some way, including my family. To help others in their fight against cancer is truly humbling.

Volunteers have been the backbone of the American Cancer Society since its founding more than 100 years ago. They continue to provide the crusading spirit the society has needed to champion the fight against this terrible disease.

Latrice McLin

Categories
News News Feature

We Don’t Have Jack

Jack McCoy, where are you when we really need you?

Jack McCoy was the fictional hard-driving executive assistant district attorney who stopped at nothing in his quest to put felons behind bars in the iconic television series Law and Order. As brilliantly played by actor Sam Waterson, McCoy was often arrogant, overbearing, and idealistic, but always a passionate advocate for justice. He reluctantly plea-bargained in some cases, but only if it led to the eventual conviction of someone higher up the criminal food chain. Of course, since the show was described as a “police procedural legal drama,” everything from arrest to conviction was usually neatly wrapped up in one pulse-pounding hour.

As a reporter, I’ve covered my share of criminal cases and, unfortunately, in the real world of establishing law and order, the gap between the time of arrest and conviction can be interminable. It can stretch into painful years waiting for justice — both for the accused and the families of their alleged victims. The supposed tenet that all accused have — the legal right to a speedy trial — is a myth. The justice system, not just in Memphis but across the country, is backlogged with cases. Protracted incarcerations and trials cost taxpayers millions.

It’s against this backdrop of three high-profile violent incidents — the shooting deaths of 15-year-old Cateria Stokes and 7-year-old Kirsten Williams and a mob attack at a Midtown gas station on a man trying to help a frightened woman into her car — brought outcries of disgust and calls for action from nearly all sectors of Memphis. The arrests of three men in Williams’ murder focused an intense scrutiny on just how deep the problems of gangs and criminal recidivism continue to erode our public safety. The extensive rap sheet of 21-year-old Jordan Clayton drew special attention to the fact that even though he had previously pled guilty to aggravated assault and robbery charges, he served just over six months in jail for crimes for which he was sentenced to a collective total of four years.

As frustrated District Attorney General Amy Weirich told me, Clayton would have been behind bars, if the victim of an aggravated robbery, where Clayton was a prime suspect, hadn’t told a different story at a preliminary hearing than the one he originally told police and prosecutors. Instead, Clayton received a lesser charge and soon returned to the streets.

So far, nine teenagers have been arrested and charged with aggravated riot in connection with the BP gas station mob attack against Memphian Orrden Williams. First-term General Sessions Judge Gerald Skahan drew public criticism for lowering the $100,000 bonds leveled against some of the suspects to $5,000. Skahan said the initial bonds set were “unjustly high.” Skahan also stipulated that the Northwest Prep Academy students involved must return to classes, adhere to a 6 p.m. curfew, and stay away from the gas station. It’s estimated by Memphis police that as many as 50 young people participated in the attack. Their investigation continues.

So as I recently watched another of the countless reruns of Law and Order, I asked myself, “WWJD.” What would Jack do? My guess is he’d wholeheartedly share MPD Director Toney Armstrong’s on-target assessment that “guns in the hands of youth are a recipe for disaster.”

In reality, the Tennessee General Assembly’s penchant for easing gun restrictions only complicates efforts to stop that access. I suspect McCoy would have used the bully pulpit of his office to rail against that legislation, and he probably would have used every prosecutorial weapon at his disposal to go after illegal dealers of weapons, gang members, convicted felons in possession of guns, and would have argued for tougher sentencing after every conviction.

Just as in real life, the fictional McCoy encountered some of the legal restrictions that bind the hands of police, prosecutors, and the judiciary. But it never seemed to stop him from doing what he felt was the right thing to do. He pushed the envelope and encouraged his fellow prosecutors to approach their jobs with the same passion for seeking justice. McCoy didn’t win every case, but he wasn’t afraid to do all in his power to get criminals off the streets and to vigorously fight for the rights of victims and their families. Fiction is created to entertain us. But in these perilous times, we need to find inspiration wherever we can find it.