Stupid human tricks

Antioch CM Sam Coleman is bound and determined to follow through on his intention to allow guns in rural parks not because they have especially high crime rates but only because they are rural. He is due to make an appearance at the Parks Board on Tuesday to press his case, which ought to give board members an opportunity to challenge him to show why our generally crime-free rural parks require guns for safety:

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF PARKS AND RECREATION

AGENDA FOR BOARD MEETING

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2009

(1:30 PM)

CENTENNIAL PARK BOARDROOM

2565 Park Plaza

I. CALL TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

IV. APPEAL OF DECISIONS

V. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES

VI. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS/INTRODUCTIONS

VII. INTRODUCTION OF STAFF, NEW EMPLOYEES, VOLUNTEERS

VIII. METRO COUNCIL REFERRALS

11-09-00 Mr. Sam Coleman, Councilmember of the 32nd District, requests permission to address the board with regard to Resolution 2009-1009.

A resolution requesting the Director of the Metropolitan Parks and Recreation Department to provide the Council with a list of rural and/or isolated parks and greenways for purposes of a possible exemption from the prohibition on carrying handguns.

Beaman Park: Gateway to Danger

Betsy Phillips does what neither the mainstream press nor CM Sam Coleman seems willing to do: look at the crime statistics at a park where Mr. Coleman says guns need to be permitted as deterrents to hypothetical crimes. Not only does she find little to substantiate CM Coleman's incitement to violence, but she finds that the crime stats in the community surrounding the park are so low as to make his knee-jerk fear mongering over rural areas a rude joke.

A girl can spend her lunch hour looking at the police crime statistic map and discover that apparently not one violent crime was committed against anyone in these parks last month. Not one. (Though woe to the person trying to get to the park at the end of Neely's Bend! Bring a gun to the park, for sure, but don't worry about needing it once you get there.)

But you know, maybe all of the residents in these areas (who are just poised to pounce on park visitors at any moment) were busy in October. So I looked at the crime stats--again, available from the police department, and again, available to anyone with a lunch hour. And while they're not broken down to park level, I discovered that, in all of 2008, there were a grand total of three violent crimes committed in Beaman Park's zip code.

The whole zip code. Three violent crimes.

Well, I can see why we need to carry guns in Beaman Park. You're lucky to get out of there with your life.

The list of smacks of shame

Betsy Phillips takes Antioch CM Sam Coleman to the woodshed for effectively black-listing rural parks and the good rural communities that dwell around them:

in a climate where the Parks budget faces a severe shortfall and people are losing their jobs, the insinuation that rural parks are so dangerous that people need to come armed has real implications beyond Coleman's "But I love guns" agenda. It could affect how council members who have never been to those parks feel about them, and when they're looking at ways to trim the park budgets, it's not hard to imagine how "oh those rural parks are so unsafe" might affect their decisions ....

Anyway, our parks are beautiful, our rural neighbors are not about to ambush you in them--and maybe Antioch needs to take a long hard look in the mirror before it starts talking smack about where people might need to carry a gun in order to feel safe.

Metro Council only cares about Parks when it comes to permitting guns or not

This council debate on guns-in-parks just won't die. CM Sam Coleman is bound and determined to permit park-goers to holster up somewhere in the county on public property (but not the Council chambers!). So, he's asked Metro Parks to provide him with a list of rural or isolated parks and greenways.

Wait a minute. How come Sam Coleman doesn't already know on the basis of his own research, constituent feedback, or actual experience the rural or isolated parks or greenways that might dictate carrying a gun? He's just indiscriminately requesting permission to carry in every single rural or isolated park without reference to actual crime reports or statistics, but merely because they are rural or isolated?

And take note that Bells Bend Park is on the list of Parks given to CM Coleman. For several months I've been encouraging people I know to visit there. Yet, in one fell swoop, Sam Coleman is going to black-list Bells Bend Park as among those so unsafe that visitors should pack heat to drive off the criminal element. Is he really that intent on sabotaging some beautiful back country based on uninformed decisions and his own ignorance of the actual conditions outside of an arbitrary list?

Another conservative Metro Council member tries to supplant Eric Crafton as Nashville's own culture warrior poet to Fox News

Did CM Robert Duvall say "anal inspection"?

The Council Member Got Bitter, Clinging To Guns after Clinging to Religion

At last night's council meeting, a month after co-sponsoring a bill to promote prayer events orchestrated by fundamentalist Christians, CM Robert Duvall forcefully disputed a memorializing resolution that expresses opposition to the state's pending preemption of Metro laws against carrying guns in parks. Duvall imprecatorily poured out his indignation on bill sponsors by shouting that the criminals don't obey the laws and they carry guns in Metro Parks as if they were permitted.

It's one thing for Duvall to incite Nashvillians to stay away from Metro Parks by spreading the meme that they are all disproportionately saturated with gun-toting criminals relative to any street in Davidson County. And it's noteworthy when an elected promoter of biblical literalists ignores biblical teachings like "love your enemies," "do good to those who persecute you," and "turn the other cheek" in favor of advancing the NRA's interest in strapping more guns on people even if innocent bystanders hit the collateral damage side of the homocide ledger after various OK Corral shoot-'em-ups (further discouraging park visits).

But it is a horse of a different color when a council conservative will forsake the idea of home rule and brook the big-brother, nanny-state Tennessee General Assembly telling Metro Nashville what we can and cannot prohibit in our own local parks.

Time For Hair-Trigger Dial Pads

I don't know what it is about January and February, but this is about the time last year when gang activity, most notably wearing colors and graffiti (see this and this and this and this), became more prevalent around the neighborhood. It looks like the same vandalism the same time this year, with the painting of several private and public markers on Garfield near 5th and 6th Avenues. I am sad but frankly not surprised that the attractive signs for the 5th Avenue Brownstones and Garfield Place were hit. I am surprised that they were not hit sooner. But for whatever reason, the winter months seem to be the time gangs vandalize the most.

"Salem Town" refers to the "Blood Set" gang occupying 6th Avenue between Garfield St. and Buchanan St. The inverted "C" with the "K" refers to "Crip Killers" (the "Crips" are the opposing gang occupying the Cheatham Place neighborhood). At Salemtown Neighbors meetings, gang detectives have told us in the past that the gangs in Salemtown should not be taken seriously in that they do not present a threat to residents. Seriously complicating that message are recent incidents involving arrests for drugs and guns and alley gunplay after which I found a semi-automatic assault weapon that had been hidden by fleeing individuals. Police assurances last year were fine as long as we only dealt with graffiti. That graffiti now grows more ominous in light of recent potentially lethal events, and it is becoming more difficult to take the detective's assurances seriously.

A local developer called me today in order to let me know that he is following up with Vice about the graffiti. That's a good start. But all of us who are concerned about safety in our neighborhood need to be ready to contact the police at even the slightest indication of suspicious behavior (non-emergency calls go to 862-8600). We should not take our security for granted. The convergence of semi-automatic gunfire and graffiti may be a signal that things are starting to heat up. If increased police patrols can ward off gang behavior, then calling them is the only way we are going to get more patrols. That's just the way that this police department operates.

As it stand now, I have asked the police for increased patrols because having found the gun, we feel less safe. All who live in Salemtown should be doing the same. Numbers matter. Moreover, I call the police each and every time I witness any person exhibiting the slightest suspicious behavior, and I ask them to send a patrol just to check things out. No harm in that. But I make a point to tell them of both the assault weapon that was fired this week and the graffiti, because both lend more urgency to our pressing need for patrols. The more calls they get, the more patrols they will send. We also need to drive the point home to the officers who attend the Salemtown Neighbors meeting on Monday night, for the sake of our own peace of mind.

Rifle Found In The Wake Of Yesterday Evening's Gunfire

I did not sleep much last night thanks to an adrenaline rush after finding this rifle while taking my dog out for her last chance to do her business before turning in. I called the police, who took the gun and a report. I do not have a trained eye, but it looks like a semi-automatic that I've heard referred to as an AK-47. Here's hoping that any evidence found on it leads to a quick arrest of the thugs who own it.

01/19/2006, 10:15 a.m. Update: Blake Wylie, who has a much better knowledge of guns, writes in the comments that the rifle is an "SKS," that is, a Russian military semi-automatic.