A sign prohibiting firearms by Chattanooga city ordinance is seen at Miller Park in Chattanooga. NASHVILLE – State House Speaker Beth Harwell says she and fellow Republican representatives will seek to strike a balance on a just-passed Senate bill stripping Tennessee cities and counties of authority to ban guns from local parks, playgrounds and ball fields.
“There are some discussions on the piece of legislation,” Harwell told reporters Thursday after the GOP-dominated Senate passed the bill 26-7. “I suspect there will be some amendments on our side.”
She said the House Republican Caucus is “very pro-Second Amendment – and we want to be protective over that – but also firmly believe in local rights and local control. So we’re going to try to have a balancing act and see if we can get there.”
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, a former Knoxville mayor, has voiced concerns about the state imposing its will on local governments.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, was approved largely on partisan lines, with one Republican voting no and one Democrat voting yes.