An editor for the Kingsport Times-News castigated Ramsey on the editorial page. I say that the doctrine of pacifism contradicts Scripture and that Ramsey is right and editor is left, er, wrong. The Apostle Paul clearly described heresy in 1 Tim. But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. The context is that of charity for involuntarily indigent people but has a broader application.
Fathers are to protect their families and the state is to protect the right to do so.
The new wording had the covert goal of denying newly emancipated Negroes the right to carry guns. Tennessee's 19th century government was concerned about the control of a presumed aberrant class and indifferent toward the protection of God-given rights. The majority consented to this. Tennessee's 20th century government is no better. Our modern laws treat the right to self-defense as a privilege.