Why does the TN GOP care more about guns than the well-being of their constituents?

This is getting ridiculous. Another gun bill?!

NASHVILLE -- Four months after the adjournment of a state legislative session dominated by gun bills -- and four months before the next one starts -- gun legislation was back on center stage at the statehouse today.

For nearly two hours, lawmakers discussed and heard testimony on a bill allowing people with handgun-carry permits to keep their guns in their vehicles on the parking lots of their workplaces -- regardless of their employer's policy on the issue.

Look - I'm all for the right for you to own a gun. I support the ability for you to be able to legally carry that gun as long as you have a permit. I don't dislike guns. However - at some point, don't you think we should be focusing on something else?

Here is how obsessed the legislature is with guns. Based on my rough count, 95 bills were introduced in 2009 dealing with "firearms and ammunition" and "handgun permits". That may not sound like a lot to some of you, so to provide you with some perspective: around 61 bills were submitted dealing with health and health care.

You read that correctly. Despite the fact that Tennessee ranks #38 in the nation on the health index, despite having the 9th highest obesity rate, despite having the 12th highest HIV infection rate, our GOP-majority legislature thinks that guns are more important than the health and well-being of Tennesseans.

A few questions for my legislature: how is a gun going to help my neighbor find a job? How are guns going to reduce the infant mortality rate? How are guns going to decrease the high school drop out rate?

So what does all this tell us besides the fact that the TN GOP just doesn't care about the well-being of the state? It shows that they are more interested in deepening the culture war than addressing Tennessee's more exigent problems. It shows us that the gun lobby is taking up too much of our legislators' precious time and donating too much money to their reelection efforts.

Most of all, it shows that our elected officials are hoping that they can distract us from our chronic problems by repeatedly dragging us into another inane debate over guns. You know the worst part about that?

We fall for it every time.