Anderson Co. & Smithville - Open

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CLINTON - A move to ban those with handgun permits from toting those weapons in Anderson County parks failed to win a recommendation from a County Commission committee. After lengthy discussion Monday, legislative committee members voted 5-2 against opting out of the new state law that goes into effect Sept. 1. Sheriff Paul White spoke in support of the new state law, saying opting out of it would be unenforceable and he's never encountered problems from those with permits to carry handguns.

The Smithville Aldermen apparently will not opt out of a new state law giving gun carry permit holders the right to possess a firearm in parks..
The new state law, recently adopted by the Tennessee General Assembly, is meant to let handgun permit holders carry their weapons into every park in the state. But in a compromise to ensure passage of the law, legislators included a provision that gives local governments the power to ban guns in some or all of their parks by passing a new ordinance.
Now, many local governments in Tennessee are moving to do just that before the state law goes into effect September 1st.
Mayor Taft Hendrixson brought the issue up during Monday night's city council meeting at the request of Director of Schools Mark Willoughby who apparently has some concerns, since teachers often take school students on trips to the city's parks. "I got a call today from the Director of Schools. The new law that has gone into effect allows guns in bars, restaurants, and other places. There is a number of cities and towns that are opting out to keep those (guns) out of city parks. I don't think the people that carry gun permits have ever given any problems. The best I can find out, probably not a one in the State of Tennessee has ever given any problems. But I was asked by the Director of Schools. I think his concern is a lot of the teachers, at certain times of the year, take the children over there for picnics or whatever at the parks. He just asked if I would bring this up before the board and get their feeling on whether we want to opt out of the law and do a resolution not approving guns in the parks, all of our city parks. I guess we're talking about the Smith Road, Airport, and Greenbrook Parks, the Joe L. Evins Ballfield. All of our public parks would come under this."
Alderman Shawn Jacobs said he didn't see a need to issue a ban. "My feeling is most of these people, all the people that have gun permits have undergone background checks, their fingerprints are on file, they have all taken a certain minimum number of hours of training and they're certainly more equipped or attuned to carry guns than most of the general public and as we've discussed I don't think there has ever been a problem with anybody that's carried a gun permit because they've passed the backgrounds. I would hate to see us do that personally. I think we're restricting more and more civil liberties all the time and the reason the legislature passed that was to try to lessen the confusion, I think, about where you can or can't carry a gun. I personally would hate to see us do that. That's just my opinion. This is always something we could revisit at a later time if there were problems."
The board took no action.