Update: James Yeager in videos below has had his gun license suspended by the State of Tennessee.
Via Channel 5 News
Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has suspended the handgun carry permit of a local man who threatened to "start killing people" to protect his Second Amendment right.
In a statement released Friday officials said they had suspended the handgun carry permit of James Yeager, CEO of Tactical Response based on "material likelihood of risk of harm to the public".
"The number one priority for our department is to ensure the public's safety. Mr. Yeager's comments were irresponsible, dangerous, and deserved our immediate attention. Due to our concern, as well as that of law enforcement, his handgun permit was suspended immediately. We have notified Mr. Yeager about the suspension today via e-mail. He will receive an official notification of his suspension through the mail," Commissioner Bill Gibbons said.
Original "Pack Your Bags" Statement
From James Yeager of Tennessee, CEO of Tactical Response, a Tennessee company that trains people in weapon and tactical skills.
Vice President Biden is asking the president to bypass Congress and use executive privilege, executive order to ban assault rifles and to impose stricter gun control.
F**k that.
I'm telling you if that happens it's going to spark a civil war and I'll be glad to fire the first shot. I'm not puttin' up with it. You shouldn't put up with it.
And I need all you patriots to start thinking about what you’re going to do, load your damn mags, make sure your rifle’s clean, pack a backpack with some food in it and get ready to fight.
I'm not f***ing putting up with this. I am not letting my country be ruled by a dictator. I'm not letting anybody take my guns. If it goes one inch further, I'm gonna start killing people.
Previous Video Statement: On Assault Weapons Ban
Things are looking kinda bleak for the patriots in this country. First let's talk about the reality of things because there are rumblings of a Civil War.
. . . If you're literally talkin' about a Civil War, you really are talking about becoming an insurgent. And that's how the government will look at you and that's how you'll be treated in the media. You will not be portrayed as a freedom fighter or a white knight or anything like that. You'll be viewed as a domestic terrorist, an insurgent. You won't be thought of in the popular press or popular media as anything other than a bandit, a scoundrel, and just a dishonorable person. So keep that in mind.
As far as what I'm going to do as far as the assault weapon ban? Um, I'm not given' up my guns. Period. That's my line in the sand.
Everybody has to have their line in the sand. I will not succomb.
Everybody's like "Yeah! blah blah blah," when they come to my house. Well, I'm gonna go ahead and tell ya, if we wait for 'em to come to our house, they'll start picking us off one at a time. If your whole plan is to resist by staying at home then that is no resistance at all.
We need to do things as much as we can politically. Please give money to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. The NRA-ILA. That is where the political money goes. You can give money to the NRA and they kinda split it all up, but if you earmark it for the ILA, then it goes right in for ads, for pro-gun ads, right into all the political stuff. I'm tellin' you - I know those guys at the ILA, I know them, they are friends of mine. They ARE freedom fighters. They are our best defense. We have to get behind them.
And I'm not sayin' that these other organizations aren't good, that's great, join 'em all.
. . . I want our elected officials to do what they swore to do when they raised their hand. But I will tell you that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights demand that we do not allow tyranny. And I see the assault weapon ban and confiscation, buyback and all that stuff, as being an absolutely unreasonable firearms restriction. The Surpreme Court has said it is an individual right. The Supreme Court said that not that long ago! An individual right. And that's where I stand with it.
Pack Your Bags Part 2: Backpeddling, Sort Of
I stirred up a lot with the "Pack Your Bags" video, so number two here. Um, I was mad when I said it. And, uh, probably allowed my mouth to overrun my logic. But I don't retract any of my statements. I have edited the video and I cut off the end where I said I'd start shooting people.
First off, I don't need the hundreds of people who have emailed me to give me legal advice or lawyers. I didn't ask you for your f***in' opinion. I didn't ask you to clog up my go**am email. I don't need anybody to ever email or text me or call me or smoke-signal me over anything that's goin' on with the internet because I don't care. '
Now I realize there are unedited versions of the video people have stolen from me. If you're one of the people who have stolen my video and you've uploaded it onto your site, please take it down, it's my property. It's my property, take it down.
. . . I've had a flood of calls from alumni, a flood of messages. It's overwhelming. ...Visits in the store and in person. All over the place, people asking me what they should do. I don't know. But I did tell you to load your mags, make sure your guns clean, and pack a backpack. If you haven't done that, don't call me and ask me what to do next because you haven't even done the first thing I asked you to do.
People are sayin' stuff like 'It needed to be said, but you shouldn't a said it.' Well look around, who else is going to say it?
And all you f***in' fair-weather Second Amendment people tellin' me that I'm doing a f***in' disservice to the gun community by sayin' that I'm not going to stand for the tyranny? F*** YOU! Our country wasn't founded by f***in' fair-weather pu$$ies. Either you're in or you're out, and if you're out don't call yourself a go**am Second Amendment advocate. It f***in' pisses me off.
If you're not prepared to go all the way, then you're not prepared to go anywhere.
Now, I don't condone anybody doing anything rash. I do not condone anybody doing any kind of felonies up to and including aggravated assaults or murders, unless it's necessary. Right now it is not necessary.
I understand that my video was very volatile. You have no idea how many people sent me emails and texts and called me. It was like 'Right on. My sh**'s clean. My backpack is packed, you tell me when and where. You have no idea how quickly I accidentally assembled an army. I assure you, a quite formidable army.
But now is not the time yet. It is time to get ready. It is time to get ready. Start workin' out. Start stretchin'. Start practicin'. Start talkin' with your friends. Coordinating on a local basis.
I don't know really what to say to do next. I have a wait-and-see attitude about the whole thing. But I stand fast with my message. I have drawn my line in the sand. Not one more inch.
Interview with WSMV TV Reporter:
Interviewer: You've made some comments that have gotten a lot of people upset, comments about killing a lot of people.
Yeager: I didn't say I'd kill a lot of people. I said I'm going to shoot some people.
Interviewer: Okay. Why did you say that?
Yeager: What would George Washington do? What would Thomas Jefferson do? Um, it is our civic duty as citizens of this country to respond to treasonous (sic) and tyranny. It's our absolute birthright and its our responsibility.
Interviewer: So can you elaborate when you say 'shoot some people'? Because to us it sounds like a threat.
Yeager: Of course. I was angry when I made the video. And probably should have metered by words better. I am not plotting to kill any officials or anything like that. No plans to do that. But the American Revolution is not that indifferent (sic) - the things that were going on at that time are not that different from now. And I believe our forefathers would be turning over in their graves if they had any idea of what this country's become.
I don't mind paying my taxes, I'm a law-abiding citizen. But I expect my constitutional rights to be left in place. And they have been eroded, and eroded and eroded. And I've drawn a line in the sand.
Interviewer: The line that you've drawn makes some people pretty nervous.
Yeager: Good. It's time. It's time for people to be nervous.
Interviewer: They're nervous about you.
Yeager: Mm, well, I - I can understand. I'm a person of conviction and when I say things people believe me. I will reiterate - I have no plot. There's no notes on my desk about killing anybody. I was angry when I made that and those were far-fetched statements but the reality is that I feel that this country is headed for collapse in several different ways, economic as well as political.
Interviewer: Under what circumstances would you shoot somebody?
Yeager: (laughs) That's a pretty ambiguous question. Certainly in defense of life. Um, but . . . the question is, I guess, right now, in defense of liberty and what does that mean? I don't really know. I don't really know how to answer your question and even if I had a year to think about it, I don't know that I could answer it with any satisfaction
However, it will be time to shoot people when the Constitution is set on fire.
(long pause)
Interviewer: Can you explain more?
Yeager: Ask a different question.
Interviewer: Well you said it would be time to shoot people when the constitution is set on fire. Are you talking about literally somebody taking the paper document and lighting it, or what are you talking about?
Yeager: Examples of what I'm talking about are outright gun confiscation, martial law, things like that. There are things going on in this country that should not be going on, that are not legal in any sense of the word. And I know I might be loud, and I understand that I'm radical. But there are a lot of people who are far more eloquent than I am, who are more educated than I am, that agree with me.
Interviewer: Well, the attention getter is saying you're going to shoot some people.
Yeager: Right.
Interviewer: And when I hear you, I'm thinking that when someone comes to confiscate a gun at your house you're going to open fire on them?
Yeager: Yes.
Interviewer: Go through that again?
Yeager: If somebody comes to take my guns, I will shoot them.
Interviewer: Can you hear what that sounds like to people who are not of your same political opinion?
Yeager: I would hope that they would have been educated. And I hope they can read the Constitution. The Second Amendment is the most clear amendment in the entire Bill of Rights. And it says 'shall not be infringed.' It's the most clear and concise amendment that there is.
Interviewer: Talk about the reaction you've had to the YouTube posting.
Yeager: The overwhelming response has been very positive and very supportive. The detractors have threatened bodily harm to me and my family and threatened to burn my business down. Calling me all kinds of names. Calling me a Nazi and things like that. Nothing could be further from the truth. They've been very rude. Calling and making nasty threats via email and everything else. And they've disrupted my business. And that's their goal. I understand that. But, the overwhelming majority of comments have been very positive.
Interviewer: So mostly positive - what are you hearing from people?
Yeager: In my video I tell them to make sure their rifle's clean and their mags are loaded. And most of the responses I'm getting are that my rifle's clean and my mags are loaded.
Interviewer: And the people that have been saying rude and ugly things. Describe what the general tone is.
Yeager: I think the general tone seems to be certainly anger, and frustration. . . . It's funny because they tell me that I'm wrong for threatening violence but they're threatening me in the same breath.
Interviewer: What kind of threats are they, specifically?
Yeager: Saying I should be shot. My family should be killed. My house should be burnt down. Very negative things . . . about the women in my life that I won't go into detail about. But some very terrible things.
Interviewer: Do you think that these are real threats?
Yeager: Credible? Probably not, but it only takes one person to make it real.
Interviewer: Some people could say that about you.
Yeager: Yeah. You're right, and I hope they're paying attention.
Interviewer: All right, sum it up for me. Oh, there was one version up on YouTube, then it came down. The part about killing people. Then it went back up without that. Were you the one that edited that?
Yeager: Yes.
Interviewer: Okay, tell me why you did that.
Yeager: Again, I was angry when I made the video. I said some things I probably should have said differently. Um, and I realize that talking about shooting people is inflammatory. And so I took the video down, edited it and took that part out, and put it back up. It wasn't me trying to escape anything. I realize that people all ready ripped the video and put it on other sites, but I wanted to reposition myself and basically admit that I went a little too far with that.
Interviewer: Talk about the national attention that you've gotten now.
Yeager: It's pretty funny. I just got off the phone with a radio interview. MSNBC wants to speak with me. CNN has asked for an interview. You guys are here. It's been, uh, it's been a very busy day.
Interviewer: Did you expect that?
Yeager: No.
Interviewer: Okay, sum it up for me.
Yeager: Our country was founded with the basic precept that each individual person was responsible for themselves. And the government is steadily trying to take away our ability to be responsible through taxation and the erosion of the Constitution. People are tired of it.
Interviewer: You're really tired of it, huh?
Yeager: (Nods head)
Interviewer: I can tell it gets you, it just really gets you. Anything else you want to say?
Yeager: I can't think of anything.
Pack Your Bags 3: Yeager and his Attorney
Yeager: Hi, I'm here today with my friend, alumnus and attorney, Dana McLendon. In my other video I said some pretty volatile stuff, which I apologize for. I do not in any way advocate the overthrowing of the United States government. Nor do I condone any violent actions towards any elected officials. I was very angry when I made that video, and I didn't have time to reflect on it before it was put up, and I took it down very quickly but it was reposted with my original thoughts. I was mad when I said it. I apologize for letting my anger get the better of me.
But I want to make sure everybody understands is that it's not time for any type of violent action.
(Turns to lawyer) Say hello, please.
McLendon: Evenin'.
Yeager: Dana contacted me as a friend about that video and said 'hey, maybe we shoulda said some things about you know, what people should be doin' right now.' And so that's what we're here to talk about - what we need to be doing right now politically to further our cause.
McLendon: Thanks for having me on, and I do think people need to recognize that for 20 years people in the gun enthusiast industry and that kind of thing have really made some big advances. Shall issues (handgun licensing) have swept the nation. In almost every state you can get permission to carry a gun now. The laws have really gone our way for a long time. So the process works. The Legislative process tends to work. By and large we haven't done anything to burn the legislators that have trusted us with these laws, right?
So I think it's important that we have to understand that some people are afraid. And they're worried. And they want to know how they can not be unsafe. They want to feel safe. And not everybody's cut out to carry a gun. Not everybody's going to be a gun enthusiast. A lot of people are never going to be that. They just want to walk around and feel safe.
So what's happened is, there are politician's out there who are using this opportunity to kinda seduce these people into believing that they have the solution for their safety.
Yeager: Right.
McLendon: We can talk about whether there's actually any validity to that, but they're selling safety, but they're not going to be able to deliver it the way they're promising. For that reason I think it's important for people on our side of the equation to talk to their legislators, tell 'em, remind 'em, for 20 years the trend's been going in this direction. For 20 years, crime rates are dropping. For 20 years violent crime - dropping.
Now is not the time to overreact and apply a lot of reactionary policies that don't really address the problems that we're facing. So I would tell people that we're dealing with a scared population, dealing with people who don't necessarily think and feel like we do. And contact your legislators to let them know that we want them to stand fast with our rights and our privileges, and not do things that won't work. Look at doing things that might work. And have a reasonable discussion about that.
Don't overreact to every soundbyte that some politician comes on TV and says.
(snip)
Yeager: Earlier this week I made a pretty inflammatory video. Hindsight being 20-20, I shouldn't have said some of the things I said, of course. And I just want to reiterate to everyone that it's not time to shoot anybody. What it is time to do is to organize politically, contact our elected officials, and help steer this ship the direction we want it to go. It's unfortunate that things have become so volatile. But it is an opportunity for us to push forward.
