Tennessee strikes down local laws banning guns in parks

Dave Boucher | The Tennessean

NASHVILLE — Two weeks after the National Rifle Association had its annual meeting in Tennessee's capital city, the state's governor signed a bill permitting guns in parks.

The bill, which Gov. Bill Haslam signed Friday, nixes any local government ban on people with handgun permits taking their guns into parks though it was amended to restrict such guns in the "immediate vicinity" of a school-sanctioned event at a park while that event is under way.

"Overall, I believe the legislation in its final form is a vast improvement from the bill as initially introduced," Haslam wrote in a letter to the lieutenant governor and House speaker. "However, I am concerned that an unintended consequence may be operational challenges for local leaders in managing their parks in a safe, effective and consistent manner due to events and situations that could not have been anticipated in drafting this law."

The law doesn't define immediate vicinity but says that once a person is made aware he is within that distance, the person must leave. The person can store his gun properly and return and be within the law.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean had criticized the bill but said he planned to work with his city's legal department to better understand how the law could be enforced.

The bill came in part because of NRA lobbying. Chris Cox, head of the the association's lobbying arm, cheered the bill as a victory for Second Amendment freedoms.

"Law-abiding Tennesseans have a fundamental right to protect themselves, whether in their homes or in parks. This will remove a patchwork of laws throughout the state that could have turned law-abiding citizens into unintentional criminals," he said in a statement.

Gun control advocacy organizations Everytown for Gun Safety, the state chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and the Safe Tennessee Project all issued statements opposing the bill and the governor's decision to sign it.

"The reality that the legislature would not listen to the mayors, city councils, the Department of Education, school boards, police departments, sheriff's departments, school administrators and citizens across the state that opposed this bill and instead pass a lobbyist-written law opposed by taxpayers is shameful," a statement from the Safe Tennessee Project said.

After a lengthy back and forth, which included proposals to allow guns in the statehouse and to ban squirt guns or other imitation weapons around school property, lawmakers came up with the compromise that Haslam signed.

The bill also allows cities and counties to leave up signs that say guns are banned in parks even though the guns won't be banned for people with permits. Initially, the bill was set to take effect before and expressly for the NRA's annual meeting, but debate over the measure delayed the bill.

Supporters say the law offers people a chance to legally protect themselves in parks that can at times be remote. National parks have allowed gun owners with permits since February 2010, and in 2011 then-Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia acted to permit the open carry of firearms in state parks.

Opponents say the law is confusing for parents and gun owners, and any time guns are around children at parks tragic accidents may happen.

Contributing: Jason Gonzales, The Tennessean