Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

Bartlett Alderman Position 2 Candidate Paula Sedgwick TFA Survey Answers:


1. I believe Tennesseans who have civilian handgun permits should be allowed to carry their handgun while in places that serve alcoholic beverages (including beer) for consumption on site (e.g., restaurants):
a) under any b) as long as they aren’t c) under no circumstances
circumstances consuming alcohol

Answer - C- Under no circumstances

2. I believe Tennesseans who have civilian handgun permits should be allowed to carry their handgun in publicly owned or funded parks.
a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - A -Agree

3. I believe Tennesseans who have civilian handgun permits and are entering school grounds (through grade 12) should:
a) be allowed to retain b) be allowed to store their c) be required to keep the
possession of their handgun in their vehicle handgun off school
handgun grounds

Answer - A allowed to retain

4. I believe that – as has been the case under federal law since the mid-1960s – any state or local agency firing range that was built or maintained with tax funds should by law be made available to the public when the range is not actively in use by the agency for whose use the range was initially intended.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - A) Agree

5. I believe Tennessee's handgun permit law should be amended to a “firearms” permit.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - B) Disagree



6. I believe Tennesseans who have civilian handgun permits should be able to carry “less-than-lethal” defensive weapons such as batons, chemical sprays, and “stun” guns.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - B-Disagree

7. I believe that firearms safety education should be required in all Tennessee elementary schools.
a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - B-Disagree

8. I believe firearms safety education and training should be required in all Tennessee junior high and high schools.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - B-Disagree

9. I believe legislation should encourage the development and funding of organized youth shooting teams in all Tennessee junior high schools.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - B-Disagree

10. I believe legislation should encourage the development and funding of organized youth shooting teams in all Tennessee high schools.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - A-Agree

11. I believe any state maintained database of civilian handgun permit holders should be confidential.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - A-Agree

12. I believe an individual age 21 and older should be able to carry a loaded firearm without a permit – as done in Vermont – so long as such individual does not have a prior conviction for a violent felony for which the individual has not had his or her rights restored or been granted a pardon.
a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - B-Disagree

13. I believe that the federal “assault weapons” ban should be reauthorized.
a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - A-Agree

14. I believe the federal restriction on private ownership of full automatic firearms manufactured after 1986 should be eliminated.
a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - D- Disagree


15. I believe that if a publicly owned building or property is legally posted to prohibit the possession of firearms at that location, the public agency making such determination should be obliged to provide a suitable storage facility on site for the temporary storage of weapons otherwise legally in the possession of handgun permit holders.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - B- Disagree
16. I believe a solution would be to allow legally armed citizens to be armed in publicly owned properties.
a) Agree b) Disagree
Answer - A-Agree
17. I believe that employees in Tennessee who have handgun permits should be allowed to, at a minimum, store their firearms at their place of employment – including their vehicle – and that such storage should not be allowed as a ground for termination of employment.
a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - A-Agree

18. I will support a Bartlett ordinance limiting Aldermen to two terms.

a) Agree b) Disagree

Answer - A-Agree

19. With respect to each of the foregoing questions, I hereby pledge that I will actively support and endorse legislation that is applicable at the local level, in Bartlett, in accordance with my responses if elected to public office.
a) I do so affirm.
b) I do so affirm with the exception of questions
c) I do NOT so affirm.
Answer - A- I do so affirm

I hereby certify that the foregoing statements are true and correct and acknowledge that the same shall be used for purposes of rating my responses which rating and these responses may be made publicly available by the Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc., and/or TFA–LAC for the purpose of making these representations by me made known to the voting public of the State of Tennessee.

Comments: Me, my husband, and our sons are responsible gun owners My husband and sons love to hunt. We insisted that our sons take the hunters saftety program before allowing them to shoot a gun. It was a 6 week course given through the YMCA in Whitehaven at that time, several years ago. It is our right through the second amendment to bear arms and at a time in our country when our rights, on so many fronts, are being challenged, I strongely stand up for our constitution and our right to carry a handgun. That means a law abiding citizen with no criminal record. I do not believe that it should be taught in school. This should be a matter between parents and their children, and their individual beliefs, but the rights of the second amendment should be in place. I don't belive that guns should be in bars where liquor is served. Thank you for allowing me to voice my opinion. I do believe there should be term limits for Aldermen


Signed under oath: Paula Sedgwick


Date: October 10. 2010

I'm sorry, but this guy does NOT "get it." If someone can be trusted, then they can be trusted. Why ban carry at restaurants when it has yet to be an issue here or in any other state? Why ban the horrible "assault" (semi-autos with plastic basically) when it did not help.

I'm sorry, but this guy is either uneducated, or refuses to listen to reason.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say she is a woman, based mostly on the fact that she has a husband and kids.

Valid points all the same, though.

You are correct. I didn't look at the name close enough.

Many of her answers disturbed me as well. I meant to add a question about having a carry permit and if they actually carried, but will ask about that next week at our meeting. I appreciate everyone who has invested the time to learn about the candidates. This is an important election, from local races on up.

Ms. Sedgwick said repeatedly at The Bartlett Festival, as she does on her website, that she supports the Second Amendment and how I needed to have her literature on our table at the TFA booth. Thankfully, I did not cave in and explained we had vetted one of her opponents, Mark Barney, on gun rights and that's why his literature was allowed.

As for the incumbent, with all due respect, the only reason Alderman Position 2, Emily Elliot, is not skating to a forth term is because she was leading the parks ban of LEGALLY armed citizens here in Bartlett.

There is nothing personal against any of the candidates. TFA is a leading civil rights organization in our state, focused on gun rights, and, among other goals, seeks to educate gun owners so that we may vote in our best interest.

It doesn’t appear that Ms. Sedgwick understands what the most basic point of the Second Amendment, much less Article I, Section 26, of the Tennessee Constitution.

The Founding Fathers, having just fought a war with citizen volunteers AKA the "Militia", (the National Guard would not exist for over 100 years later), against England, a world super-power with a sate of the art, modern, well equipped army and navy, did not even want a standing army in the new country. The "Militia" were all those that fought for our independence.

Ms. Sedgwick’s support of the reauthorization of the federal "assault weapons" ban, and opposing a weapons carry permit, even currently legal carry items such as pepper spray (why wouldn't she want citizens to have non-lethal options? If all you have is a hammer; the whole world looks like a nail), shows by definition; ignorance of the very intention of the Second Amendment. This amendment puts the teeth all the others - it affirms our God given right to have the tools to defend against tyranny. Those tools are weapons, comparable to the arms of the government. Arms for the specific purpose of defense against tyranny.

Arms for defense against other threats and the ability to hunt for game are not the focus of he Second Amendment, however, the Bill of Rights is a series of limitations on the power of the United States Federal government and does not prohibit arms for these purposes either.

This unconstitutional "assault weapons" ban was an incremental erosion of our most basic right, to stay alive, and was designed to ban cosmetic features of semi-automatic weapons that anti-gun politicians and their comrades in the media and entertainment industry felt looked scary, and too powerful not to be in government hands. It was the most they could get as a stepping stone on the way to confiscation. The "assault weapons" ban was never intended to reduce crime, as it was sold to the American people. The ban’s chief sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), admitted this when she said on CBS’s 60 Minutes; "If I could've gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them...'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in,' I would have done it."

One prop that may help illustrate and educate is a black powder long gun I'm thinking of bringing to the meeting (unloaded) where the three candidates will speak. It is similar to the "assault weapons" of the 18th Century.

In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity
Director - Shelby County TFA