by macville » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:56 am
Here's my letter back to Senator Jackson and his reply:
Senator Jackson, thank you for taking the time to write me back. I truly appreciate your effort in getting the original law passed, and what you are doing to try and get the law reinstated.
What exactly do you think will come up in the committee that will be a concern for blocking unrestricted carry? Do you have, or be willing to write up a list of people who voted for the original restaurant law but who you think wouldn't vote for an all encompassing carry law? If you don't feel like that wise for you to do, I totally understand, just let me know and I will contact each person who voted for the law and ask them personally if they would vote for such a clear law. I know that the talk at tngunowners.com and tfaonline.org has been that every rep & senator who has been asked about such a law said they would support it as written. So you might be surprised at the support you might get for such a law.
I understand what you are trying to do with the law, but I, and every single person I've talked to, think if it's written as you described in the report, it will be even more confusing than before. Therefore, because it seems to be more confusing, it has great chance struck down just like the old law. Just for kicks and giggles I looked up the Knoxville Civic Center the other night before I went to a hockey game to see if carry would be allowed to carry there if your bill got passed. It took me quite a while to find liquor licenses on the state website (that would have to be fixed), but low and behold, it seems like it would be legal to carry there because they operate under a liquor license--even though they only sell beer at the games. To me, that's pretty confusing considering what you said. Now granted, I haven't see the wording of what you are proposing, so that technically may not be covered, but right now at face value it seems very confusing. But I think that's why people are riled up about. Both our Federal gov along with our State gov are shrouded in secrecy and confusion. To be honest, I think if you actually released the wording you are proposing, you might actually help us get a ground campaign going to get a truly "clean" law ultimately passed.
The mood among all the other permit holders I've talked to right now is go for broke. We feel that almost all the dems and repubs who voted for the original law can be talked into voting for such a law if it will get up for a vote. But again, as I said above, we need to know exactly what the concerns are in committee so we can hammer away on those point.
Mathew
Civic centers and sports arenas are issued liquor licenses under a separate statutory provision and are not covered by the proposed bill or the previous restaurant carry law.
Issues and concerns of many members and the public are numerous and obvious. I advised John Harris to discuss it with Speakers Ramsey and Williams.
Unrestricted carry would be an unattainable political goal at this time.......but then again, what do I know?
So while I firmly believe that Jackson would vote for a clean bill if another rep/senator brought it up, he's not going to introduce it sadly enough.
What's funny is there was almost a 20% margin in both the house and the senate over what was needed to pass the law. Do we think 20% of the people who voted for the law before wouldn't if it allowed unrestricted carry for where alcohol is served?
I guess it's time to get active and ask each rep/senator who voted for the law before how they would stand on a clean bill.
Matthew