Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Legislature / Politics / Woods Governor Calls for Rolling Back Gun Laws, Denounces Guns-In-Bars as Legislature's 'Monster'
Posted by Jeff Woods on Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Q: A lot of cities and county governments are voting to opt in or opt out. Some gun advocates are saying this is creating a lot of confusion and next session they'll work to take the opt out clause out of the law?
Bredesen: No, the only reason I found the guns-in-parks bill even marginally acceptable was the fact that it did have that opt out clause. I thought frankly a lot of particularly urban and suburban counties were going to feel that's important. When these parks have a lot of kids in them, I understand completely why somebody would want to prohibit the guns in the parks. I'm hoping that after this flurry of activity that we had on these gun issues this year, that maybe the legislature will step back. I think an awful lot of people who didn't really engage on this issue but felt very strongly on the other side might get engaged this time around. I mean this is an issue that's being driven by a few thousand people in this state. They're very passionate about this issue. But I think there are tens or hundreds of thousand or millions of people who think of these things as at a minimum not very important in the scheme of things being considered in the state. In particular in cases like the guns in bars, they're just shaking their heads and thinking it's craziness. If these things cause people to take a fresh look at it this next year, I think that would be a good thing. I frankly think the legislature is going to hear a lot more from the other side this time around.
Q: Are you hoping the establishments will ban guns by posting signs?
Bredesen: I certainly think where there's literally a lot of bar activity late at night, I think they're already starting to do it. ... I think they just kind of created a monster there. I think the bar owners are going to do the best they can over the next few months, but I expect this to come up again.
Q: Would you personally get engaged?
Bredesen: I think I made my opinion clear on this subject. ... But I thought the guns in bars in particular ended up in a very bad place. ... Certainly on the guns in bars issue they know where I stand. But I'm not promising anything in particular next year yet. I have to see what the lay of the land is.
Q: Would you like to see some of these laws rolled back?
Bredesen: I would love to see some of them rolled back into a more reasonable position. I mean, one of the things that's been so striking to me is we got a huge amount of email traffic on this subject. Initially, almost of it pro the legislation and really coming from a relatively limited number of people. I mean, there's a universe of about 3,000 people or 3,500 people out there who always engage on this issue. ... After the thing passed ... the comments that I have from people you just see on the street and see in different places, they're just kind of scratching their heads and saying I guess I didn't focus on that and I can't really see why this piece of legislation would pass. So I really do think that next time around, there's likely to be a lot more focus from people who think this is a bad idea. The whole thing is typical of a lot of things in politics. You have a few people on one side who care passionately about a thing and you may have a very large number of people for whom it's not the important thing in their lives but they have a strong feeling. Sometimes you need something like this to energy those people and get them engaged.
Comments (15)
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Q: "Would you personally get engaged?"
Bredesen: "I think I made my opinion clear on this subject. ..."
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I wish every Tennessee legislature who voted for this idiotic gun bill would lose their next election. This goofy bill is causing problems for local governments that they do not need at this time. If this is all we can expect from GOP leadership then I think it's time to make some changes.
It's a telling thing, how it is looking more and more like all the local governments are going to opt out of this dumbass law.
What was the point of passing it, other than forcing local governments to spend their limited resources banning something that was always banned for good reason, anyway?
"I mean, there's a universe of about 3,000 people or 3,500 people out there who always engage on this issue. ... After the thing passed ... the comments that I have from people you just see on the street and see in different places, they're just kind of scratching their heads and saying I guess I didn't focus on that and I can't really see why this piece of legislation would pass."
Wait a minute! Didn't you indicate you would support this on your own NRA questionaire? Where's this new found tail wagging the dog attitude toward health insurers? Sickening.
Protesters take aim at TN lush gunner bar law with Johnson City squirt gun shoot out
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=179x4842
Down here in Texas we have no restriction on carrying in a restaurant that serves alcohol, like Olive Garden or On the Border.
However, establishments that serve enough alcohol that 51% of their income is derived from on-premises alcohol sales are required to post a sign that features prominent characters "51%". These establishments - real bars - are off-limits to concealed carry by ordinary folks.
This system seems to have worked well for the decade that Texas has had a shall-issue CCW system. Maybe Tennessee could learn from our experience.
"Maybe Tennessee could learn from our experience."
Nope. Sorry. Tennesseans are all expected to shop at "Wadded Panties R Us."
On the off chance that some would-be Dylan Cho shows up and trying to shoot everybody while I'm at the Olive Garden, I think I'd take my chances trying to get out the back door or beaning him with an endless salad bowl than on someone like Emmett, who's had four beers, unholstering his weapon and managing to hit the shooter. He's more likely to hit several fellow customers than to bring down the guy he's aiming for.
Also more likely to be hit: People like the woman in Florida who got shot while in a bathroom stall. The woman in the adjoining stall had a conceal-and-carry permit, and the gun fell out of her holster and discharged.
Exactly Boyd! Same lady whose pistol fell out of her diaper bag at the playground and killed a baby in a sandbox.
Biggs, if somebody showed up and shot you, they'd give him a medal for public service.
BBB: Your lame arguments are so specious. When you finally understand that the law prohibits someone carrying a firearm from drinking, a point your refuse to recognize, please come back and join a reasonable conversation.
"BoydBiggs", you are spouting rhetoric like all foolish anti-gunners do. LEARN about the law nitwit, HGP carriers CAN NOT and most DO NOT consume alcohol while carrying a weapon, period! That's the law!
I know what the law says. The question is how that law will be applied. So are HGP carriers simply on the honor system? How is a server in a restaurant to know not to serve you if your gun is concealed? Is the restaurant liable if you break the honor code and drink and then shoot somebody, either accidentally or on purpose? (We have laws against drinking and driving, too, because we've found that drinkers don't always obey the "honor code" not to drive.) If an HGP carrier does decide to have a few drinks and an armed robber comes into the bar (er, I mean "restaurant"), would the carrier simply sit and do nothing in response? I doubt it. If he decided he was going to drink and left his gun in the car, what's to prevent him legally from going out to get it and using it in response to some situation inside? Even if he had nothing to drink, how could I -- if I were a bar (er, I mean "restaurant") owner -- be sure that the HGP carrier had any training in marksmanship and wouldn't accidentally shoot innocent people? Most of all, would I as a restaurant owner be subject to a lawsuit (not to mention higher insurance premiums) if I allow guns in my place and somebody gets shot? It's a risk I wouldn't want to take, and it looks like most restaurant owners around the state are coming to the same conclusion.
By the way, "Bob," you need to get your shit straight. Being anti-gun is very different from being anti-guns-in-restaurants.
BBB, you really are so full of yourself; and I do have my s&%t straight fool, an anti-gun NUT is an anti-gun NUT, period! Your "If he decided he was going to drink and left his gun in the car, what's to prevent him legally from going out to get it and using it in response to some situation inside?" doesn't cut it either. What's to prevent him legally, that's the operative word; if he "goes out to get" his weapon - that is the problem (premeditation)that will most assuredly cause him (or her) to not only to lose the HGP, but to be out of "legal" grounds in that the gun was retrieved AFTER the incident. You really should learn more about the laws that govern those of us that carry, instead of like all koolaid drinkers do; by getting your information from others who also don't know the law. Really, all this stuff that you anti-gunners spout about the "guns-in-bars" is just crap - the restaurant carry bill plainly left a loophole for restaurateurs to opt out with a 7x14 sign stating "NO WEAPONS ALLOWED", that's all it takes. And one last thing BBB, your "Most of all, would I as a restaurant owner be subject to a lawsuit (not to mention higher insurance premiums) if I allow guns in my place and somebody gets shot?" Turn it around to say, "wouldn't I have the same right to sue if someone I love or I got shot, knifed, bludgeoned to death or whatever because the restaurateur wouldn't allow my 2nd Amendment right in his place of business.
Write what you will BBB, I'm done with this foolishness here ...... just remember when someone attempts to take away your right to complain here (1st Amendment); then you may not have to wonder why we, as 2nd Amendment supporters are so adamant about all this anti-gun rhetoric.
