Mayor Bill Haslam, City of Knoxville website

In an effort to learn candidates' views, I am providing a gun rights questionnaire to Tennessee political candidates. Mayor Haslam chose not to respond to the Gun Rights Quiz. Instead, he provided the following:

1701 West End Avenue, Suite 300
Nashville, TN 37203

April 14, 2010

Mr. Liston Mathews
Knoxville Gun Rights Examiner

Dear Mr. Matthews,

The Bill Haslam for Governor campaign received your questionnaire regarding rights and laws related to gun ownership, and we appreciate your interest in Mayor Haslam and his policy positions as well as your efforts to inform your readers.

As a general rule, we prefer to respond to policy questionnaires with issue statements outlining the Mayor’s governing philosophy and approach on the issue. This allows voters to understand more than
just how the Mayor feels about a specific question from the press or an interest group; it provides insight into how he would actually govern on the issue, including how he will handle future questions
that do not come up during the campaign.

However, earlier this year we did provide specific responses to a lengthy questionnaire on Second Amendment issues that was published by the Tennessee Newspaper Network. We provided the Mayor’s positions on key issues to the four largest newspapers in the state, because we recognized the important role this questionnaire played in distinguishing the positions of each of the candidates. For your benefit, I’ve enclosed the Mayor’s responses to the questionnaire that was published on January 10 in the Commercial Appeal, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Knoxville News Sentinel, and The Tennessean.*

Mayor Haslam is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment and the individual’s right to keep and bear arms. He believes all law abiding citizens have the right to protect themselves, and in general he favors the least amount of restrictions, clearly stated and uniformly enforced.

We appreciate all you are doing to keep Tennesseans informed about the issues facing our state.

Sincerely,

Mark Cate
Campaign Manager
Bill Haslam for Governor

Enclosure*

*Note - Responses from all candidates, including those no longer in the race, can be found HERE.

My analysis of those responses can be found HERE.

Go back to the Index page.

This questionnaire was developed by National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea, and is used with his permission. The original site for these questions is HERE. To see his other Examiner works, go HERE. David also writes the War on Guns blog, which can be seen HERE, and writes in Guns Magazine. HERE is a sample from that publication.

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Disclaimer: The information and ideas presented in this column are provided for informational purposes only. Gunrights, like all other Constitutionally recognized rights, must be exercised responsibly. Firearms, like cars, kitchen knives and life itself all can be dangerous. You should get professional training as part of any plan to use firearms for any purpose. I have made a reasonable, good-faith effort to assure that the content of this column is accurate. I have no control over what you do, and specifically accept no responsibility for anything you do as a result of reading my columns. Any action or lack of action on your part is strictly your responsibility.