Knox County Parks

[tkdmavrick]

Currently, as per state law, carry by a HCP holder is legal as of last Sept. 1. Knox County, as of today (9/22/09) has not opted out. County Commissioner, Amy Broyles, is very anti-gun, and had the very unfortunate experience to be in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian church when it was shot up by a deranged madman. In her opinion, guns are thus bad. Now to be fair, a very good friend of mine was also in the front pew when that went on, he knows I have a HCP, and doesn't mind me being in his home or yard when I carry.

That being said, Amy Broyles has put on the Knox County agenda a resolution to "opt-out". The meeting time for this is Sept 28, 2009 at 2:00 PM in the Knoxville City/County building (same room as the Knoxville City Council meetings).
I was urged by two county commisioners to have the TFA to again turn out in force. According to those two commissioners, it looks like AMy Broyles has nowhere near the votes to "opt-out" but it is no means a "done deal" so we do need a good turnout.

[tkdmavrick]

The Knox County Commission meets today (Monday September 28) at 2:00 PM. Their legislative agenda is quite full today so. according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel (which I consider to be anti-gun), they will probably postpone the discussion and decide to have a "workshop" to discuss the matter. Hopefully this will allow more people to attend instead of in the middle of a work day.

One thing that is much more important than the Knoxville City Council decision, is that Knox County has no "middle" ground. Either they allow HCP holders, or they criminalize it - there is no exisiting ordinance. Knoxville itseld "ducked" and stayed with the status quo - and neither side "won" or "lost".

In the Knox County case I urge ALL TFA members who can to attend the Knox County Commission meetings on this.

One other thing ...... at the bottom of my "signature" I say I am a proud member of the VRWC. By this morning's paper I see that Bill Clinton is revising the membership list and reviving the club.

[macville]

Just FYI, Commissioner R. Larry Smith, Greg Lambert, & Richard Briggs are on the side of protecting our rights.

I would love to be at today's meeting but will sadly not be there because of a meeting.

Matthew

[macville]

Did anything happen at the meeting today regarding guns? Ragsdale emailed me back today saying that he fully supports the 2d amendment. However, if I recall correctly he was not in favor of the restaurant carry bill or the parks bill when it was being considered. So somehow I find it hard to believe that he FULLY supports the 2d.

Matthew

[tkdmavrick]

Today, by a vote of 13-5, the Knox County Commission voted to not "opt-out".

Here is the online lilnk:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/sep/2 ... uns-parks/

What is not stated in the article is the fact that, any municipality, can "opt-out" at any time in the future, so we still must be always vigilant. That being said, it is against the Knox County Charter (according to my source - a commissioner) for a decided vote being re-voted unless a year has gone by - so at least we have a year of legality in Knox County Parks.

FYI - Mike Ragsdale is the County Mayor and does not sit on the County Commission.