McWherter At The Bridge

McWherter At The Bridge

If Tennessee voters are seeking a champion for the their Right To Keep And Bear Arms, and for that matter, any other part of the Constitution, they need to look for someone other than Democrat candidate for governor Mike McWherter.

After persuading the Nashville Chapter of the Tennessee Firearms Association to change their monthly meeting date to accommodate his schedule, McWherter spent all of about 35 minutes before the group speaking and answering, or rather not answering, questions, 34 minutes more than he wanted to no doubt. Thanks to Richard Archie of the TFA, we have video of his appearance.

McWherter is affable enough and began by shaking everyone’s hand and then launched into his stump speech, emphasizing job creation as his main platform, and slamming Republican opponent Bill Haslam for his joining the NRA only recently. McWherter tried to portray himself as a businessman first and foremost, although he let it slip he is a lawyer by training and Constitutional Law was not his strong suit. From there it went downhill.

McWherter managed to display an alarming ignorance of not only the plight of the small farmer in Tennessee, but the immigration issue as well as the Second Amendment. I am sure he would have shown an even wider range of issues about which he has not bothered to form coherent positions, but he was only there for a little over thirty minutes.

Watch the videos, here, and here.

McWherter is against restaurant carry for ordinary citizens, and seems ignorant of the fact that it is already unlawful for a citizen carrying a firearm to consume alcohol. A policemen, however, may carry his weapon anywhere anytime even in a bar, to “protect” himself. You and I have no such right to protect ourselves in similar circumstances. Police are apparently special. He did say he thought it would probably be a good idea if the officer didn’t drink while packing. I can’t recall if the laughs came after this or when he said the police are “special”. I think the latter.

In spite of the fact he was before a gun rights group, and had been asked the very same question by the very same person at a previous TFA meeting, in response to the question, McWherter said he did not know what the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act was. This after proclaiming he was a big supporter of State’s Rights and the Tenth Amendment. He said all firearms should be under regulation. He was pointedly asked by some fellow in a red shirt (me) what he thought the Second Amendment really meant. He stumbled around. The best he could say was that it “number two in the Bill of Rights.” He maintained that it was a right. He thinks the freedom of speech is a right too, but could not or would not answer why one right should be regulated and the other not. I pointed out that when you have to ask permission to exercise a right it is no longer a right but a privilege.

He left rather hurriedly after this.

I was just getting started. I really wanted to ask him if he thought Tennessee was a sovereign state, and if so, what he would do to interpose the state between the Federal government and the citizens of Tennessee to protect the latter from unConstitutional laws, and what he thought was the relationship of the Second Amendment to all this. No time to do it.

All in all it was an unsatisfying experience. Bill Haslam is scheduled to appear before the same group on October 18. The meeting is open to the public.

I hope Haslam sticks around to answer questions.