Johns Is Elected as President of the Tennessee Valley Sportsmen’s Club

Bill Johns

Knoxville, TN – July 22, 2018: Bill Johns, MBA, MPA (also known locally and globally as The Hawaiian Shirt Guy™) has been recently elected as President of the Tennessee Valley Sportsmen’s Club, the oldest conservation and hunting and fishing club in Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Sportsmen’s Club (TVSC) was founded in East Tennessee with its roots going back to the 1940s and even before. It has been the premier Club over the decades for being a leading advocate for conservation, wildlife resources, sportsmen, land management, and seasoned, beginning, or student professionals of the wildlife and conservation industries.

“Johns is the perfect leader of our Club with his passion, expertise, and knowledge and his local and national networks are outstanding” stated Carter Davis, a former pastPresident of the Club and retired Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) officer.

No more lollygagging - pass National Reciprocity

It's time for the Senate to get off their duffs and pass National Reciprocity. Sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. HR 38 would permit citizens, including President Trump's staffers, to legally carry a defensive handgun in the fifty states and the District of Columbia.

It would also allow congress-critters to carry. We are entering an era when they, particularly the Republicans, are now subject to violent attack as never before.

Just recently we have seen Secretary Nielsen's home surrounded by a mob, and Press Secretary Sarah Sanders kicked out of a restaurant in Virginia.

Not everyone has an armed security detail like Senator Mitch McConnell. It was fun to see his wife, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, confront a mob, but is only a matter of time before one of these mobs turns violent, and some unarmed government employee or private citizen is attacked.

What is National Reciprocity?

Simply, a handgun carry permit issued in any state or the District of Columbia is, like a driver's license, valid in all states and the District. The permit holders would be subject to the laws of the state they are in, just like a driver's license. By way of comparison, if you have a Wyoming Driver's License, you may drive up to 80 mph on some of their highways. But with the same license, your maximum speed in North Carolina would be 70.

Let's do this, Mr. Mitch!

Suicide is not painless

The recently reported suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have caused me to pause and think about suicides that have happened close to me.

The theme song of M*A*S*H is a sad song that states, in part, that "suicide is painless". No, it is not. The one who leaves has apparently had much pain, and those left behind experience tremendous pain for a long time.

I have had two co-workers opt-out. Also, my wife lost a friend as a teenager, and we had a schoolmate who checked out in middle age.

Three of those were some of the biggest surprises ever, though one had spoken of it beforehand. I do remember being dumbfounded upon hearing about them.

Why do people do this? Others with much more education in this have not (to my mind) figured it completely out yet. I will not attempt it here.

Source: World Health Organization

I will tell you what I know, though:

Suicides cross all national and cultural lines. Look at this chart. One area with the highest rate is the former Soviet Union, which, for a lifetime asserted there is no God. (a clue?)

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...and I will tell you what I think:

Gun-grabbers in the United States will use these suicides (Spade and Bourdain) as a springboard to demand more bans of firearms. Note that these two celebrities were reported to have hanged themselves. Sad, but no firearm involved.

A couple of years ago, I had a back-and-forth dialogue with a lady on the other side about guns, published at Ammoland. As I wrote there concerning suicide,

The CDC reports for 2013 that there were a total of 41,149 suicides, of which 21,175 were listed as firearm suicides. So, about 58 of 113 suicides (51%) per day were committed with a firearm. 

While suicides are certainly tragic, if you were able to totally eliminate firearms from the civilian populace, the other 49% would still be there, and I suppose some of those who would have used a firearm will resort to some other method as they do in other countries where firearms are not readily available...

Societies with very low private gun ownership, such as India have a much higher suicide rate than the United States, so they can't blame guns there. Hanging, poisoning, and jumping are used more internationally. So, it seems that those who are serious about it will find a method/tool to accomplish it.

Well, suicide is not painless; nor is it the fault of the necktie, bridge, insecticide, or gun.

....and peaceable gun owners need not feel guilty....