Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

Why is it that the state is taking authority over private schools on firearm possession? Should that not be up to the individual school in the case of a private school?

What is the purpose of this new law?

Long bill.

http://www.michie.com/tennessee/lpext.d ... &cp=tncode

Haven't read the whole thing, maybe I got tired and missed them or I just haven't gotten to it yet, but I have yet to see the real significance to this bill.

Seems like a few good things. A pity they didn't fix the signage issue. Still, one bite at a time.

NRA wrote this bill but to my knowledge solicited no input from Tennesseans on it. Keep in mind it was NRA in-house written legislation which caused damage to the castle doctrine, the self-defense statute, the restoration of rights proceedings, and which has not permanently precluded non-violent felons from owning firearms even if they have their "full rights" of citizenship restored.

I have not read this 40 something page bill but I will. I have however talked to legislators who already tell me it is, with a high degree of probability, already DOA.

Legislators are telling me that they expect only one bill that would help on the "thou shalt not" standards this year and that is the employee parking lot issue. It however is going to be a turf war because that bill, if I am not mistaken, has House and Senate sponsors who are both Democrats running legislation that Democrat leadership has killed in the house for years.

I have skimmed a few pages of this so there is a LOT I don't know about it. I have read the summary. On the surface it seems it could be ok. It seems to consolidate a lot of the laws that are scattered around into one law. There was some brief discussion about this after our Shelby chapter meeting last night and one member did raise a good point.

Right now we enjoy a majority in both houses that should be favorable to our issues at least to the point of not loosing ground. However in comming years if the "atmosphere" in the General Assmembly is not good for us, we have to understand that with all our eggs in one basket so to speak, one piece of legislation could wipe out everything. At least with separate statutes covering the various conditions we have, each piece would have to be repealed individually as I understand it.

Sam Cooper

OK, read the whole thing, and see little things that could bite us hard. As usual when the NRA writes a bill they focus on a few good big things to the detriment of the details, which can cause us future headaches. They add a few words here and there that could be abused.

A good example is the homeland security exemption. As far as I can tell, it does not exist in current law. Why would they add it to sections as a reason to restrict us? Another little thing that ought not be there, is all the times it references Federal law. Let the Feds enforce Federal law, Tennessee should focus on our own standards. Our laws need not be contingent upon D.C.

John,
Have you had an opportunity to read this bill yet? Also have you had any communications with the sponsors to express your concerns? Again without having read all of it, I have concern with a law that has all our eggs in one basket so to speak.

Your comments about the parking lot bills being "turf wars", are you saying you feel that legislation that was proposed by both parties in the last session, Josh Evans and Ben West, (which both died) could die again because Republican members will vote against it just because it was proposed by Democrats? You know the atmosphere there much better than I but this would be just absurd. I just can't understand why they would kill somthing that had bi-partisan suppport so to speak in the last session. I feel the biggest opposition we would have would be the general consensus agains gun bills in general this session.

One thought, we know the NRA bill has numerous flaws, would it be feasible to offer an amendment that re-writes the bill properly, fixing all the small things, and preserving the good changes the bill makes? Then, when the NRA inevitably pushes this bill hard (and who knows, maybe even gets it through) it does good for us.

If the NRA goes to kill the bill, that would be fine. If they decide to continue supporting it, even better. Either way, amending it makes it a win win for us.