The state of Tennessee is having some problems, which Cam noted yesterday. However, a new rule has gone into effect in such a way that it may make the state so much safer.

However, it seems that a number of people don’t see it that way. Apparently, those numbers include some people who describe themselves as being pro-gun rights.

It seems reduced training requirements are a bad thing in their minds.

A new gun law that will take effect January 1, 2020 in Tennessee has raised some concerns — even among gun-rights advocates.

Many are calling the measure unsafe because it drastically cuts the training required to get a handgun permit.

Jim Mauth, a firearm instructor in Franklin, is one of them.

“I’m a Second Amendment guy. You know, I’m ex-military,” Mauth told WPLN News in Nashville. “I’m a lifelong member of the NRA.”

But Mauth said he is concerned about the newly-created “enhanced handgun carry” permit. It allows people to forgo the 8-hour in-person training with instructors and replace it with a 90-minute online video.

Mauth called this new law “a bad idea.”

Now, let’s also keep in mind that Mauth is a firearm instructor. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he stands to lose money now that people aren’t required to attend a class.

I’m not saying he’s only saying this because he may lose money, mind you. I don’t know the man, so I won’t ascribe such mercenary motives to him. But I will say that when someone who stands to lose out financially opposes a law like this, you should take that opposition with a grain of salt. Even if he’s completely sincere, how much does the subconscious understanding of losing money influence one’s perception of a law?

Look, a lot of other states have absolutely no training requirement at all. You know what else they don’t have? A whole rash of people legally carrying guns but being stupid about it.

Sure, that happens, but let’s also remember that training doesn’t necessarily negate someone’s stupid gene. We’ve seen that happen time and time again.

People should never have to go through training to exercise their constitutionally protected right, if for no other reason than it then becomes too easy to limit who can exercise that right. If you don’t want poor people to carry, you make the class prohibitively expensive. If you don’t want many people carrying at all, you make it almost impossible to pass the class. It’s too easy to manipulate things with a training requirement.

The truth is, now more people will be carrying guns. That means more places will be safer because there are more guns. Criminals in Tennessee are now going to face the idea of there being more and more armed citizens in more and more places. As I’m sure some of them saw in White Settlement, that can be a bad recipe for them.

Guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens make us safer as people. That’s how it works. So Tennessee residents can rest easier…even if they don’t think they can.