Audio clip
Randy Rayburn
NASHVILLE -- A new guns-in-bars bill cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, a step toward allowing handgun-carry permit holders to go armed in restaurants that sell alcohol.
A similar bill passed the General Assembly last year but was overturned by a Davidson County court that said it was unconstitutionally vague.
While the state is appealing the Chancery Court ruling, "we don't know what the courts are going to do. So we would rather come back and make it clear for the permit holder where he can carry and not carry," Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, the bill's sponsor, told House Criminal Practice and Procedure Committee members.
The new bill, HB 3125, passed the committee on a voice vote with two of the panel's five members audibly voting "no."
Approval came despite warnings from Tennessee Hospitality Association representatives that, unless business owners post signs prohibiting weapons, the bill will allow nearly 269,000 state-licensed permit holders to go into any establishment that sells alcohol for on-premises consumption.
"The bill last year allowed carrying in places that serve food and alcohol," said Dan Haskell, the association's lobbyist. "This bill allows carrying of weapons in every restaurant, every bar, every roadhouse in the state. It's a lot larger bill than what you passed last year."
Mr. Haskell said the bill "would require posting at every door and, in the hospitality industry, the last thing we want to have to do is post notices about guns at the door. It doesn't seem hospitable to us."
He asked for a delay, but Rep. Todd retorted that "no matter how long you wait, you're not going to please the opponents of this bill."
Permit holders would be guilty of a misdemeanor if they are caught drinking inside an establishment, but critics, including Gov. Phil Bredesen, have questioned the possibility of gunplay erupting in places where alcohol is being consumed.
Criminal Practice Subcommittee Chairman Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, a supporter of the bill, said permit holders are "law-abiding citizens."
"We're not talking about criminals here anyway," he said.
Speaking after the committee hearing, Nashville restaurateur Randy Rayburn, owner of the Sunset Grill, told reporters that he opposes the bill.
WHAT'S NEXT
The full House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider House Bill 3125 on Tuesday. Proponents hope to have it up in the Senate Judiciary Committee next week as well.
"As property owners, we feel that our property rights, when they come into conflict with Second Amendment rights, need to be respected," he said, "and that the security of our customers and employees needs to be protected."
The House bill must clear several more panels before reaching the House floor. The Senate bill is expected to begin moving next week, Rep. Todd said.
After last year's bill was passed, Gov. Bredesen vetoed it, but legislators easily overrode the veto.
Restaurateurs sued and, on Nov. 20, Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman ruled the law unconstitutionally vague.
Andy Sher is a Nashville-based staff writer covering Tennessee state government and politics for the Times Free Press. A Washington correspondent from 1999-2005 for the Times Free Press, Andy previously headed up state Capitol coverage for The Chattanooga Times, worked as a state Capitol reporter for The Nashville Banner and was a contributor to The Tennessee Journal, among other publications. Andy worked for 17 years at The Chattanooga Times covering police, health care, county government, ...
Anyone who wants to ban guns in restaurants, or anywhere else for that matter, should watch this woman's story:
Suzanna Gratia Hupp explains meaning of 2nd Amendment! by TheConstitutionMan
If you can watch that and still want to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens, anywhere, then you have not only no brains, but no heart.
Why are you guys so obsessed with taking your guns everywhere? Is Chattanooga that dangerous? Maybe you should move somewhere safe like New York City. They're setting records with the lowest murder rates of the century and only the criminals have guns there!
If the only way a person can feel safe is with a gun, then they have a some serious issues that need to be addressed. I owe guns because they're fun to shoot, not to make me feel safe. And I live in Miami.
...where do these people eat that is so dangerous? Kanku's
Maybe in their own yard?
http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12099441
or shopping at the Dollar Store?
http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-man-with-knife-shot-dead,0,2103052.story
Note this now-deceased idiot was using a knife - let's outlaw them too.
Anecdotal but indicative none the less. Permit holders are NOT the problem. The Kanku's incidents are reported as gang on gang killings - an activity I encourage if they can keep it amongst themselves.
For those of you touting the safety of New York because of their firearm laws, I suggest you peruse this:
http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/pio/annualreport/2008crimestatreport.pdf
The gun control proponents - those who find a raped and strangled woman morally superior to the woman who shot her attacker.
That's the problem, Sailorman. It's hard to keep stray bullets confined.
I perused the Criminal Justice report and I don't see your point. I see dramatic decreases in all crime since 1990.
I can't imagine anyone finds a raped and strangled woman morally superior to one who protects herself.
My point is this: I don't think the answer to building a safe neighborhood is encouraging everyone to tote a gun into restaurants and bars. If that's what it takes to live life safely, then you should consider moving to a different place or working with your neighbors/police department to change things.
Look at page 8 of the NY report in detail.
Then why take her means of protection away from her? Is the alternative to her shooting the attacker acceptable?
"My point is this: I don't think the answer to building a safe neighborhood is encouraging everyone to tote a gun into restaurants and bars."
I don't necessarily disagree with this. But nobody is "encouraging" it nor, as proven time and time again, does outlawing guns necessarily make a neighborhood safer. Again, people who go to the effort to obtain a HCP are NOT the problem. Why do you care if they have a firearm or not regardless of location?
Indian- I will fight to the last breath to defend your right to bear arms. It's just that your argument is not logical. I moved my family from Miami because it IS dangerous. I'm not going to put my family in a dangerous situation just because I have a gun. That makes no sense to me. I would not have my family walking around downtown Chattanooga, or anywhere, in the middle of the night, that makes no sense to me. OMG don't you get it! Chattanooga by comparison is the safest city I know, and I have lived in a few. Try living in Boston or Puerto Rico. If you're scared of Chattanooga you wouldn't last a day anywhere else...without a gun. Think about that.
The lady I wrote about earlier was not poking about in dark alleys at night. She was having lunch with her elderly parents on a bright sunny day in a restaurant in a small town in Texas. Stripped of her God-given right to self-defense by politicians, she had to watch as a madman gunned her parents down. No one should ever have to give up the right to protect him/herself or family. Ever. No matter where they may be.
And how many Columbines, Virginia Techs, and Huntsvilles is it going to take us to realize that self-defense is important on campuses, too? Just like restaurants ... criminals and lunatics know that "gun free school zones" are really "victim disarmament zones" where they can kill defenseless victims at will.
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