Vetoing the guns-in-bars bill, Bredesen plays the martyr instead of fighting the good fight
by Jeff Woods
With his veto of the guns-in-bars bill, Gov. Phil Bredesen finally showed a little backbone by defying the National Rifle Association and its lapdogs in the legislature.
With more than 50 police officers and prosecutors from across Tennessee at a press conference last week, the governor said: "The notion that this bill would permit one to carry a concealed weapon into a crowded bar at midnight on a Saturday night defies common sense, and I cannot sign such a measure into law."
Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas was just as blunt: "Weapons in a bar fight are never a good thing." Serpas pointedly disputed the main argument of gun proponents, that law-abiding citizens with handguns can prevent crimes in bars and make everyone safer. "Every time I've seen someone shot in a bar, someone else with a gun would not have made a difference because those things happen in the blink of an eye."
It made quite a picture for the media, Bredesen standing tall with all those iron-jawed lawmen as he exercised his veto power for only the sixth time as governor. But legislators quickly vowed to override it this week.
Said Rep. Curry Todd, who's evidently been watching too many Westerns, "There's going to be a showdown like at the OK Corral, except that the legislative branch and the people of Tennessee are going to win this one. ... It puts me into a position like Wyatt Earp."
Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey was nonchalant. "No problem," he yawned. "... We'll just override the veto." And no one doubts it'll happen.
All it takes is a majority in the House and Senate. The bill passed both chambers by large margins—the House 70-26 and the Senate 26-7. Even Bredesen admits he knows "the great potential, probably the likelihood of an override." Which begs this question: Why didn't the governor do all this before the bill passed when it might have made a difference?
Asked that question, Bredesen mumbled something about how bills change in the legislative process and he was waiting to evaluate the final product. But this bill always allowed guns in places that serve alcohol. By equivocating, the governor missed his opportunity.
That didn't stop him from casting himself as some kind of political genius who deserves national adoration for surviving as Democrat in the South. He emailed Newsweek's Jon Meacham, tooting his horn about the veto and offering deep contemplations about a middle way on guns.
"I would suggest that it is cultural on both sides: that strong anti-gun advocates can be just as culturally biased and irrational as the most avid gun-toters. I enjoy pointing out to my more liberal friends that when they want to (e.g. choice v. right to life issues) they can happily find justification for their (and my) position in rights emanating from implied privacy rights lurking in the penumbra of our Constitution, but where they disagree (e.g. on guns) they are perfectly happy to wave off or reinterpret the clear language in the Bill of Rights."
It was hard to see the relevance of any of this to the current situation. Here's what happened: The governor kept shamefully silent about all the legislature's gun bills all session, even as one after another passed. Then after the fact, he decided to veto one of them in what amounts to a symbolic gesture. Whoop-de-do. If this is what it takes for Democrats to hold office in the South, they might as well cede the territory now.
Democratic blackmail
Republicans have been blowing hot air on the state budget all year, complaining about taxes and federal stimulus money and wasteful spending. It's easy to dismiss as posturing for the teabagger crowd, but now House Democrats are drawing the line. They're threatening to refuse to vote for the state budget unless Republicans deliver at least 30 votes of their own.
"We're going to have to get tough. We've told the Republicans that we want at least 30 votes for the budget or we're not going to vote for it," House Democratic caucus chair Mike Turner said. "That's what we want them to do. We're going to share the interest in this budget. It's going to be a bipartisan budget. If they can't deliver 30 votes, then we're not going to vote for it either."
The governor proposed new budget cuts last week, with the Mental Retardation Services Division and the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities taking the hardest hits. The administration puts $10 million toward a safety net for poorer, seriously mentally ill Tennesseans, but makes major layoffs and cuts at the state's five mental institutions.
The two agencies lose 552 jobs in the budget. In all, 700 state workers will be laid off, and 656 vacant positions will be eliminated. Layoffs are scheduled to be completed by the end of June 2010.
Email jwoods@nashvillescene.com, or call 615-844-9445.
Comments (2)
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Vetoing this bill just shows ignorance about the law-abiding citizens who have carry permits. The bill is not structured because permit holders want to go down to Tootsies and drink and have their gun on them - do you realize that right now if my husband and I want to go into almost any restaurant and eat he has to take off his gun and leave it unattended in the car (or at home if we are coming from home)? Leaving it in the car is more irresponsible than keeping it on you. People who carry guns are not the ones drinking. They take their right very seriously and are not the ones out getting drunk, arguing, and shooting people in bar fights. They are the DD (and if not they leave their gun at home) and feel a lot safer walking back to their car at 1 in the morning (should they actually be out that late, but muggings/robberies happen at any hour of the day.) This coming from a family that has been personally impacted by having a carry permit holder save lives because he was carrying when confronted by someone who was illegally carrying and intending to use it. A non-drinking carry permit holder with a gun is no less judgment impaired in a restaurant that happens to sell alcohol, than he is walking down the liquor aisle at the grocery store or walking past a drunk on the street. These people are responsible, serious people. Take a closer look at people around you - you probably pass a carrier every day and you don't realize it - because they are quite and responsible about it. Wait until someone draws an illegal gun on you, or robs you wife if she comes out of a restaurant after dark, or shoots up a restaurant because his estranged wife works there... THEN you would wish the guy the next booth over was a skilled marksman with a gun on his belt.
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