House plans gun bill override vote on Wednesday

By Andy Sher

asher@timesfreepress.com

NASHVILLE — The House sponsor of legislation letting handgun-carry permit holders go armed in establishments selling alcohol said today he plans to override Gov. Phil Bredesen’s veto of the measure on Wednesday.

Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, said he expects to serve the required 24-hour notice for the veto override on the House floor tonight.

“No, you can’t do it tonight. We’ll do the override on Wednesday,” Rep. Todd said after meeting with House Speaker Kent Williams and House Clerk Burney Durham this afternoon. “That’s the plan right now. I’ll make notification to the House tonight.”

“I look forward to the override,” Rep. Todd said, adding, “I got the votes.”

Flanked by police chiefs and other law enforcement personnel last week, Gov. Bredesen vetoed House Bill 962, saying in his veto message that although he supports Second Amendment rights, “the notion that this bill would permit one to carry a concealed weapon into a crowded bar at midnight on a Saturday night defies common sense, and I cannot sign such a measure into law.”

He was surrounded by applauding police chiefs, some sheriffs and at least two district attorneys general.

The allows the state’s estimated 222,000 permit holders to bring loaded handguns into restaurants selling alcohol as well as bars and night clubs provided they do not drink. It also allows establishments to post signs banning handguns, which are to be obeyed. Police say enforcement would be difficult at best.

Efforts to ban permit holders from going into bars and nightclubs with a curfew and curbs on entering age-restricted venues were stripped out of the House bill.

Only a simple majority of 50 votes in the House and 17 in the Senate is needed to override. The bill passed the House 66-23 in its final version. The Senate approved the measure in a 26-7 vote.

The Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, said Friday he had filed a motion with the Senate clerk to override the governor. The Senate, which does not meet until Tuesday, has a similar 24-hour notice to override, meaning Wednesday would be the earliest day Sen. Jackson could seek an override.

“I do so while acknowledging my respect for the Governor and his outstanding leadership of the state,” Sen. Jackson said in a statement. “His veto represents a fundamental difference of opinion between the two branches of state government.”

He said he “gave close attention” to Gov. Bredesen’s veto news conference and “discerned no new facts or information which the General Assembly has not previously considered during long hours of discussion and debate.”

He said the bill was passed by an “overwhelming bipartisan majority.” It was based on “irrefutable facts rather than emotion,” he said.