Senate Candidate Camp ignorant of gun laws

[Pat McGarrity]

Republican state Representative Dolores Gresham and Democrat Randy Camp are the candidates for the state Senate District 26 seat. The district consists of eight counties in West Tennessee: Fayette, Haywood, Crockett, Hardeman, Chester, Hardin, McNairy and Wayne. Below is the answer to one question asked in a survey by The Commercial Appeal about our restaurant bill, which the Memphis paper is on record as opposing.

I will give Mr. Camp the benefit of the doubt and guess the Commercial Appeal has a typo in his quote; " One gentlemen told me...", gentlemen being plural.

Two points not made by Mr. Camp, nor in the article:

1. ANY business may prohibit armed customers now. That would NOT change under restaurant bills already passed in the state senate in years past. Mr. Camp is either ignorant of this fact, or supports the current situation in which guns are left in cars to be stolen by criminals. This would also indicate he supports the denial of choice of where to do business by armed customers by default, because restaurants that serve alcohol not having to post to prohibit them now.

2. With all due respect to the NRA, their ratings are based on answers to surveys, not on the candidate's record. Representative Gresham has been a solid supporter of Tennessee gun owners and her record reflects this.

In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity
Director - Shelby County, TFA




http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/20 ... 803064220/


Q: There will be another effort in the legislature in 2009-10 to change state law to allow people with gun-carry permits to carry their weapons into restaurants and other places that serve alcoholic beverages, where guns are currently banned. Do you favor allowing people with gun-carry permits to carry their firearms into places that serve alcoholic beverages?

Camp: "I got an A-minus rating from the NRA (National Rifle Association), but I am not in favor of allowing guns in places that serve alcohol. I talk to a lot of people that own restaurants and other establishments that serve alcohol. One gentlemen told me if the legislature passes this, 'I am going to sell my bar and buy me a funeral home.' I think this idea is nothing but asking for trouble."

Gresham: "As long as they are not drinking."