Tennessee Firearms Association Claims Common Core Standards Promote Anti-Gun Agenda

Common Core was designed to encourage critical thinking, so naturally...

This from the Huffington Post:

Do the Common Core State Standards promote an anti-gun agenda? That’s what the Tennessee Firearms Association apparently thinks.

The nonprofit pro-gun group sent out an email last week calling for legislators to stop or delay the implementation of the new policy, which lays out a set of education benchmarks designed to emphasize critical thinking and deeper learning, and which has been adopted in 45 states and the District of Columbia. According to a written statement, the Firearms association takes issue with the way the new standards represent the Second Amendment.

"We are already seeing textbooks and teaching assignments that are a part of Common Core intentionally or recklessly misrepresenting the Second Amendment in schools across the country," John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, said in the email. "And we want to insure [sic] that the liberal anti-gun agenda is not allowed to invade Tennessee schools."

The organization also claims that there have already been issues with the educational initiative misrepresenting the Second Amendment in other states. The group's email links to an article by right-wing news outlet The Blaze which rails against an Advanced Placement history textbook that "seems to diminish the Second Amendment [and] is directly linked to [the] Common Core." The statement also reports of various Common Core lessons that question the Constitution.

"We are certain to see more examples of attacks on fundamental constitutional principles as the liberal agenda that is at the core of Common Core is revealed in more assignments and testing materials," Harris stated in the email. "If it makes sense for Republicans to oppose the immediate implementation of ObamaCare in Washington with promises of repealing it, it makes sense for conservatives in Tennessee to stop or delay implementation of ObamaCore in our schools until we are sure it is right for us."

Tennessee adopted the Common Core State Standards in 2010. The measure will be fully implemented in the state’s schools during the 2014-2015 school year. In late September, the state legislature held a two-day hearing, where various advocates came out to support or criticize the new initiative.

“It will be a real battle. It’s just one of these interesting political deals where you have people on the far right who have heard it’s ‘Obama-core’ ... and then you have folks on the far left, who don’t like the fact that teachers’ evaluations are being tied to students’ test scores,” said Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam on the hearings, according to The Tennessean.