NASHVILLE - Tennessee's handgun permit holders might be able to go armed in establishments selling alcohol including restaurants, nightclubs and honky tonks under a bill headed to Gov. Phil Bredesen for his signature.
House members approve the bill on a 66-31 vote. Senators previously approved it.
Establishments would be able to post signs banning guns that permit holders are supposed to obey. Permit holders also would not be allowed to consume alcohol.
In a dramatic speech, Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, a longtime National Rifle Association supporter, urged lawmakers back a compromise that would keep permit holders from going armed in any "restaurant" where food sales were less than 50 percent of gross receipts the previous year.
But Rep. McCord, who is not seeking re-election, noted that the gun-rights group was telling members "if you don't vote for carrying guns in bars, we won't endorse you and will in fact oppose you."
Calling the NRA's "line of reasoning ... just bordering on lunacy," Rep. McCord asked colleagues how they would be able to explain their votes at home.
Rep. Henry Fincher, D-Cookeville, disagreed, saying, "we've made a choice in this state to trust handgun permit holders" and that they are well trained in gun safety issues.
"When we draw imaginary lines on the ground saying we trust you here, handgun-carry permit holder, but we don't trust you there ... we aren't doing anything but creating a pleasing fiction."
Rep. Fincher said "killers don't care about those imaginary lines."
House members voted 60-36 to table the compromise.
For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.