The Tennessee Firearms Association is calling upon Tennessee's General Assembly and the Governor to take immediate action to eliminate "gun free zones" in Tennessee.

A deadly terrorist attack in Chattanooga resulted in the murder of 4 Marines occurred in a government created "gun free zone." The evidence is clear that multiple victim shootings, like those occurring in Chattanooga and also at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, predominately occur in these government imposed "gun free zones."

"How many more individuals, who are capable of defending themselves but for government infringements on their right to carry firearms for self-defense, must be needlessly slaughtered before these killing fields that some call "gun free zones" are abolished in Tennessee?" John Harris, Executive Director of the Tennessee Firearms Association quipped. "Why is it that elected government officials who claim to be conservative and supporters of the Constitution have insisted on preserving these "gun free zones" and intentionally exposing the people of Tennessee to the fact that these locations are the primary venue for multiple victim shootings and terrorist activities?"

"Studies repeatedly conclude that these multiple victim shootings are far more likely to occur in areas where individuals are prohibited by law from having immediate access to their self-defense firearms" Harris continued citing studies such as those from the Crime Prevention Research Center. "Despite the clear evidence that "gun free zones" do nothing but disarm potential victims and are the preferred target venues of the killers, we want to know why Tennessee's Governor and Legislative leaders have refused to remove the laws creating these zones."

Indeed, almost all of the state and local government buildings that presently prohibit individuals from carrying self-defense firearms including the legislature and capital are only off limits because someone in the administration unilaterally decided to post a sign to prohibit guns. Those signs could come down today.

The Tennessee Firearms Association has worked for two decades to enable law abiding citizens to be able to make the decisions for themselves whether to carry firearms for their own defense and the defense of their families. A small number of these restrictions on the right to have a firearm for self defense have been softened or eliminated. However, laws and regulations remain in Tennessee that needlessly create death traps for citizens - even our military - in these "gun free zones."

"The law is clear that the police have no legal duty to protect individual citizens" Harris noted. "It is the right and the responsibility of each individual to be prepared to protect their own lives if and when they are a potential victim. Individuals cannot do that if they are prohibited by unjust laws from having self-defense firearms in these "gun free zones" which is a problem that must stop in Tennessee before more innocent lives are needlessly sacrificed in the name of political correctness."

The Tennessee Firearms Association was founded in 1995 and formed to defend the right to keep and bear arms and to educate the citizenry on the responsible use, ownership and carrying of firearms. The TFA is Tennessee's only no-compromise gun group.