conjecture and corporeality

Yesterday, it became legal for law-abiding handgun carry permit holders to take their firearms into restaurants that serve alcohol here in Tennessee. According to the hoplophobes and anti-rights advocates throughout the state and country, we should have experienced blood-splattered bloomin’ onions, murdered wait staff, gunned-down children, threatened and intimidated managers, enraged shoot-outs at bar counters, lunatic firearm carriers blazing away at criminals who might or might not actually be there, enraged handgun-wielders shooting each other over the slightest of perceived insults, and countless other horrific and hysterical prognostications.
So… what actually happened?
Well, taking a look at the major news sources for each of Tennessee’s three major metropolitan areas, I think the “firearms in bars”-related events from last night can be summed up as this: nothing.
Not a blessed thing happened, other than law-abiding citizens going out to eat and retaining the ability to lawfully defend themselves, should the situation necessitate it. Who knew that law-abiding citizens were… well… law-abiding? (Besides everyone with more than two brain cells, that is…)
Oh, sure, there was the usual dose of hysteria for hysteria’s sake, but out of all of the predictions of horrible and horrific things, not a gorramed one of them came true. It was almost like the anti-rights advocates were lying and inflating the situation in order to elicit an emotional response relating to this particular new law… And they would never do such a thing.
Yesterday, Tennessee joined the other 40 states that allow law-abiding citizens to be capable of defending themselves and their families in restaurants that serve alcohol; our state has taken yet another step in acknowledging individual rights, and that is, indeed, something to be celebrated.