NASHVILLE — The House Monday night refused to accept a Senate amendment on a guns-in-parks bill that allows handgun-carry permit holders to also carry their weapons into the state Capitol.
The vote non-concur motion was initially 72-14 but that appeared to change to 75-17 after several members called out to change their votes to aye or nay after the tally on the electronic board was announced.
House members may do that provided it doesn’t change the outcome.
It was unclear whether the Senate, which approved the Capitol amendment last week will go along. The original bill would override local governments’ ability to impose bans on permit holders going armed in public parks, playgrounds and ball fields.
Gov. Bill Haslam has raised concerns about both the parks ban and allowing permit holders to bring their firearms into the Capitol complex.
What’s next on Capitol provision on guns-in-parks Senate version? GOP Senate Speaker Ramsey says “we’ll talk about it tomorrow.”