Bristol Exercised Its Right On Gun Ban
Getting a statewide bill passed that allows citizens to carry firearms into parks became one of the most drawn out and messiest battles of the 2009 Tennessee General Assembly.
Gov. Phil Bredesen ultimately vetoed the bill, the legislature swiftly overrode it and the law will take effect Sept. 1.
But Tennessee lawmakers left an opening for localities to decide for themselves, which begs the question: Why did they spend all those weeks fighting and wrangling?
On Tuesday, the Bristol Tennessee City Council took advantage of that loophole. On a 3-2 vote, council members said bring the picnic basket when you enter a city-owned park, but leave the gun at home.
Johnson City officials approved a similar handgun ban last week. Other cities, including Memphis, Chattanooga and Nashville, are considering their own measures.
Bristol Tenn.’s decision was supported by City Manager Jeff Broughton and Police Chief Blaine Wade.
Council members David Shumaker, Margaret Feierabend and Mayor Fred Testa voted to ban firearms in city parks. Joel Staton and James Messimer opposed the measure.
Shumaker said he was uncomfortable with people bringing guns into public parks because they are “a weapon designed for a human being to kill another human being.”
Staton called Shumaker’s view “ridiculous” and said the resolution unfairly targets legal handgun owners who are properly trained and would carry them openly.
We support the City Council’s decision on a variety of levels, including safety and local autonomy. The Tennessee legislature left the final decision to the localities. The City Council’s vote considered the recommendations of the city manager and the police chief, both of whom oppose people carrying firearms into city parks.
Some supporters have argued that the ban is an infringement on Second Amendment rights. Perhaps they will challenge the law.
But they should begin in Nashville, where state lawmakers agreed to create this loophole for localities. And Bristol, Tenn., is among several so far that have decided to ban firearms in city parks.
Opponents also should consider the parallels with other places – like public schools – where firearm prohibitions already exist with public support.
Public parks, like public schools, are designed for children and families – and that justifies a different set of rules regarding firearms.
We believe the Bristol Tennessee City Council acted in the interest of safety for the majority of its residents when it voted to ban firearms from city parks. Shumaker, who noted that he owns firearms, said he sees no reason for residents to carry handguns in heavily populated areas such as parks.
We believe the presence of guns in such places could lead to escalated harm if people carrying the weapons overreact to confrontations. It’s one thing if an argument leads to a fist fight, but what if both people are carrying firearms?
We do not want to see arguments escalate into fatal violence because firearms are permitted in public parks. We realize, as supporters of the measure argued, that criminals will bring guns wherever they choose. But if citizens believe they need greater protection in public parks, they should demand increased patrols from the city police.
Because Chief Wade supports the ban and visitors to city parks see regular police patrols, we’re certain he will provide all the protection necessary.
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Reader Reactions
kona, for your information I never played a game of golf in my life, and I said I know how to use one I didn’t say I carried one. I don’t have to, but I don’t care if someone else does. Also, which part of “The right to keep and bear arms shall NOT be INFRINGED,“ don’t you understand.
Why I Carry a Gun
My old grandpa said to me son,‘ there comes a time in every man’s life
when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts bustin’ caps and usually it’s
when he becomes too old to take a whoopin’.
I don’t carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don’t carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil..
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the
world.
I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry.
I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating
myself for failing to be prepared.
I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and
not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a
cowboy.
I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the
ones they love.
I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am
inadequate.
I don’t carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful
to me.
Police Protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the
crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.
Personally, I carry a gun because I’m too young to die and too old to
take a whoopin’.
...author unknown (but obviously brilliant)
That is about the dumbest thing I ever heard. All of the conceal-carry people I know are over 35, hold a job and most are college graduates.
So this whole thing you assume to “beat down” someone is just nonsense. Most do so because they have a family and feel threatened in todays society.
Ask the lady in Elizabethton a few years ago who had a car-jacker enter her car and lo and behold when she pulled out her pistol he got out in a hurry. 2 ladies I know have been approached late at night at stop lights in Bristol TN by young men banging on their windows.
Now, I have a wife, and a daughter and will defend them as much as within me allows. We are at the park at times riding, running or just enjoying the day, as well as other parks and the AT trail. So if we are on the trails and someone pulls a gun on us, wants us to do whatever they want, am I just supposed to let that happen?
Come on, if your wife or daughter has their life threatened would you not want to defend them?
I have taken martial arts for years, and have never thought about pulling a gun on anyone. But I do want the opportunity to live if I am threatened. Do you think a criminal will offer you the same option?
Cap, I hope your just trying to stir people up, you couldn’t really believe what you are writing now could you?
Are you not the guy who keeps a baseball bat laying around just so you can bust a guys head wide open for having a legally carried gun? Talk about fear, your kind of people are the reason we carry guns in the first place.
“Conceal-carry holders are some of the most law-abiding citizens around. “
They’re also some of most clinically paranoid whack jobs around. No doubt there are competent people who carry guns, with or without a permit.
But they are very few and very far between.
Most people who carry guns do so in order to be able to act like punks and have a weapon to pull when someone’s about to give them the a** whoopin’ they probably deserve.
It’s cowardice. That’s the #1 motivator for concealed carry. Pure fear.
Now it’s a fact that some people, depending on their circumstances, do have just cause to carry. Someone carrying in Anderson park on a Sunday afternoon is a coward who’s afraid of the world.
You cannot “look” at someone, as you so un-intellectually stated, and determine anything.
Ted Bundy is a classic example of that fact.
You would think that Russ, in his cute little golf pro outfit, was nothing to be worried about. But there’s no way of telling by looks.
My goodness, some of the people who frequent local public parks already look like they’ve been in jail a time or two, and seldom have I ever seen law enforcement officials making adequate patrols in many TN communities.
So why are the rights of the majority being refused - - because of the insecurities, ignorance, and political pandering to the few? It’s interesting that city leaders did not allow the voters to decide what is best for the people. Conceal-carry holders are some of the most law-abiding citizens around. This is all about politics, plain and simple.
kona, might I say another brilliant retort.
I think the City Council demonstrated again why Bristol needs new leaders. I have no problem with a civilized person carrying a gun into a park. I think a person has every right to defend themselves.
We can say it will never happen and so on, but the facts are people in Bristol didn’t expect to have a gunman walk into Bristol Towers and start shoorting. The thing is this, if I am in a park and I am robbed, beaten and shot, then what good does it do me, when no one is around to shoot back?
Rest assured that if I am in a place and a gunman comes in and starts unloading I am going to hope someone has a gun to shoot back. And I am betting that even the people who wanted this bill to pass this way would be more than happy that they would be protected if something like that happened and they were defended by a conceal carry person.
Laws like this defends the criminals not the law abiders. Call it what you want.
Problem is, Russell, that YOU might be the armed criminal that threatens my family in the park.
kona, I have guns and believe me I can stop someone who intends harm to me or my family. The police can’t. You libs keep relying the police, if you want, but I’d advise you not to let the criminals know it.
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