Happy Friday!

There was a great story today in The Nashville Post. Actually, it’s just a transcript of the press conference yesterday with House leadership trying to defend the Guns in Parks bill but it speaks volumes about everything that is wrong/confusing/misleading with this bill. It is most definitely worth a read. We would be interested to get your take on it!

House GOP Conference Heated Over Guns in Parks

A few key takeaways:

1) It’s interesting that the House leadership now says that the law would exclude parks used by schools. Monday night on the House floor, members laughed at Rep. Stewart when he asked for an amendment to exclude parks used by schools - THEY LAUGHED AT HIM. But now, they are taking the stance that parks used by schools are excluded. House leadership all seem very confused about what exactly the bill does, despite the fact that all of them but Harwell voted for it (She abstained). They seem very confused about what the current law is. This is what happens when lobbyists write bills for you - you don’t even understand what the bill actually says.

2) Casada says that if a school uses a park - even once a year, they can put up a sign prohibiting guns in that park. But, there are already signs in all of the “opt out” cities’ parks prohibiting guns! The House amendment to the bill actually said that since it would cost money to take the signs down, they would just leave the signs up, although permit holders to could carry there. Huh?! This was confusing enough. But now, according to Casada, schools can post their own signs. No mention of how they are supposed to differentiate the two or why one would supposedly hold more weight than the other or how permit holders would know which sign was legally binding where. Confusing? Absolutely. The entire argument for this bill has been that gun owners were confused about which parks allowed guns.

3) According to Rep. Casada, bicycles are just as dangerous as guns. Gun accidents are “acts of God.” A person discharging their gun in their holster and shooting another person is not an act of God - it is NEGLIGENCE. It is PREVENTABLE.

Tennessee is 9th in the nation for accidental shootings according to the CDC. 9th.

And, if Casada thinks bikes are as dangerous as guns, I’d like to ask him which he thinks is safer: an unattended 4 year old in a room with a bicycle or a loaded gun?

Tell Governor Haslam to let him know you don’t want guns in your city’s parks and that this is an issue for cities to decide! Tell him to veto the bill! Please ask your friends and family to do the same!

615-741-2001

I N T H E N E W S

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/31/house-bill-bans-fake-guns-not-real-guns-near-schools/70721508/

http://www.tennessean.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/03/31/tennessee-lawmakers-pander-nra-gun-bills/70723758/

http://www.williamsonherald.com/news/article_27b591be-d8b9-11e4-a073-dbf291d8b70c.html

http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/williamson/2015/04/01/brentwood-commission-debate/70753406/