Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has suspended the handgun carry permit of a local man who threatened to "start killing people" to protect his Second Amendment right.Maybe I'm gonna just have to rethink my less than positive opinion of the Great State of Tennessee.
In a statement released Friday officials said they had suspended the handgun carry permit of James Yeager, CEO of Tactical Response based on "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public".
On Thursday, a video of Yeager angrily claiming he would "start killing people" if President Barack Obama moved forward with gun control measures began to go viral on the internet.
"The number one priority for our department is to ensure the public's safety. Mr. Yeager's comments were irresponsible, dangerous, and deserved our immediate attention. Due to our concern, as well as that of law enforcement, his handgun permit was suspended immediately. We have notified Mr. Yeager about the suspension today via e-mail. He will receive an official notification of his suspension through the mail," Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
That pendulum is swinging a little faster. It will take Tennessee somewhat longer to catch up on the other parameters, I'm afraid.
ReplyDelete"I'm not fucking putting up with this," Yeager declared in a Youtube Manifesto posted Wednesday. "I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people."
ReplyDeleteIt turns out Yeager's Blackwater-lite accreditations are false. It also turns out that when Yeager was in Iraq as a Contractor he froze, ran and hid during his one firefight.
Yeager would later write in a personal account of the incident. As more bullets chew into the cars, another voice can be heard on the tape shouting "Drive, drive, drive!" But no car moved.
Yeager "punched the gas to the floor and the engine raced, but the car stayed stationary." The ex-cop had forgotten that the car he was driving had a manual shift, and had failed to engage the clutch or the gears.
Yeager, unable to see the attackers, blasted away pointlessly at a barricade before running to take cover in a ditch on the opposite side of the road.
Isn't that just typical. Big Tough Talking Gun Nut at home was worthless when actual bullets began to fly.
James Yeager, Alex Jones, Adam Lanza and James Holmes are the face of the Second Amendment Heroes the Gun Nuts love and are foisting upon us.
How many more Americans will be murdered by Guns before Gun Appreciation Day comes?
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYeager has been recognized as a idiot for a long time in much of the gun community. There has been a campaign to shame him out of popularity from everything from being a loud mouth idiot, having poor safety standards at his range (promotional videos shot from downrange by live camera men rather than stationary or remote control cameras), and accusations of improper behavior as a military contractor. We try to self police our ranks.
All that being said, Yeager's comments didn't meet the standards of prohibited speech. He pushed about as close as he could without crossing the line, and he showed that he's a loud mouthed idiot (which we already knew).
For this reason, I'd say that the Department of Safety is on shaky ground. They may win on this in the court, but I'd give it a little less than a 50-50 chance. Whichever way the appeal goes, I just hope that the court is careful in laying out their opinion so as to not create a "bloviating dickhead" exception to the First Amendment.
You talk like the "gun community" es everyone except him. You do know he has a big following, right. Mike Vanderboegh is another one. The truth is, your "gun community" is partly comprised of guys like this.
DeleteI agree with you about the suspension. Loud-mouth talk on youtube like his is different from what we've seen by some of the famous spree shooters, unfortunately in retrospect.
Mike,
DeleteI said "much of the gun community." I know it's not a monolithic entity. I was merely trying to point that out before Jade came along with a Yeager post that tried to paint all of us as James Yeagers.
Sorry, I missed that qualifier. What you said is fine.
DeleteNo problem.
DeleteAnd the gun control freaks are filled with all kinds, too. So?
DeleteYeager was an idiot for coming close to the line, whichever side of it he is on, legally. I can't feel sorry for him losing his license. Making threats is always a bad idea.
ReplyDelete