NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A bill seeking to do away city and county governments' power to ban firearms in parks, playgrounds and ball fields has failed for the year.
The bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Tilman Goins of Morristown did not emerge from the House Finance Subcommittee before the panel closed for the year on Monday night.
The Legislature in 2009 gave city and county governments the ability to opt out of a new law that allowed people with state-issued handgun carry permits to bring their firearms into state and local parks.
The Senate passed its version of the bill to eliminate that local control on 26-7 vote in February. But the House version got caught up on the bill's estimated $38,000 price tag.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam was among the bill's opponents.