As Speaker of the state Senate, Ron Ramsey-- a real estate agent and auctioneer-- was given-- there is no election-- the Lt. Governor job in 2007, the first Republican told hold that position in 140 years and only able to win it with the help of a renegade Democrat. He represents Johnson and Sullivan counties in east Tennessee, two blood red GOP bastions. (Romney won Tennessee with 59%. Johnson County, in the very northeast tip of the state was the #1 county in America for Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Alf Landon. It's 96.40% white and gave Romney 74% of its vote. The closest thing to a city is the town of Mountain City, the county seat with a population of 2,531. Sullivan County, once part of North Carolina and once part of the short-lived state of Franklin, is even stranger. It was one of the only east Tennessee counties to support secession and it's almost as white as Johnson County-- 95.5%. The county seat, Blountville, population 3,074 and Ramsey's hometown, is the only county seat in the state that isn't an incorporated city or town. Sullivan County voted 73% for Romney.
Ramsey ran for governor in 2010 as the radical right extremist and hate candidate and was endorsed by most of the state's Tea Party organizations. The best known plank of his platform was his stance against Sharia law and his claim that "you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult, whatever you want to call it." Even in Tennessee he only finished third-- behind Bill Haslam (47.5%) and Zach Wamp (29.1%) with just 22% of the votes. In 2012 he ran for reelection as a state senator with no primary opposition and no opposition in the general.
And this week he's momentarily famous again for a Facebook posting. An opponent of regulating guns, he's one of the hypocrites with the broken hearts for the dead. But that isn't what's making him famous. He wants Christians to arm themselves.
As I scroll through the news this morning I am saddened to read the details of the horrible tragedy in Oregon. My heart goes out to the citizens of Roseburg-- especially the families and loved ones of those murdered.
The recent spike in mass shootings across the nation is truly troubling. Whether the perpetrators are motivated by aggressive secularism, jihadist extremism or racial supremacy, their targets remain the same: Christians and defenders of the West.
While this is not the time for widespread panic, it is a time to prepare. I would encourage my fellow Christians who are serious about their faith to think about getting a handgun carry permit. I have always believed that it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.
Our enemies are armed. We must do likewise.
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