Collierville Alderman: Parks Carry "SICKENS" her, seeks ban

[Pat McGarrity]

TFA has learned that Collierville Alderman, Maureen Fraser, has stated in writing that when her responsible, innocent, constituents, that choose to take responsibility for their safety, and that of their loved ones, carry in the parks they pay for; it "sickens" her:

From: Maureen Fraser [mailto:maureen@johngreen.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:12 PM
To: Chris Myers
Subject: RE: No Guns in Parks



Tom Allen, Tony Sarwar and Jimmy Lott voted no to the resolution to Opt Out of the Guns in Parks state legislation—as of Sept 1, if you have a carry permit, you are allowed to carry in our Town parks. It sickens me! From what I have found out this morning-we have until September 1st—if one of those who voted on the prevailing side wishes, he could bring it back up for reconsideration at the next meeting. All those against guns in parks need to put the pressure on!

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It was this type of bigoted ignorance that Scott Frick was working against in 2005 when he was asked this now infamous question:

"Why would you go somewhere dangerous where you would need a gun?"

Rep. Janis Sontany (D-Nashville) - to Collierville TFA Member, Scott Frick, April 7th, 2005.

Scott is working again for civil rights and wrote this very thoughtful e-mail to Alderman Fraser:


From: Scott Frick [mailto:saf871@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 12:20 AM
To: 'maureen@johngreen.com'; 'mfraser@ci.collierville.tn.us'
Cc: 'sjoyner@ci.collierville.tn.us'; 'tsarwar@ci.collierville.tn.us'; 'tallen@ci.collierville.tn.us'; 'jlott@ci.collierville.tn.us'; 'mrussell@ci.collierville.tn.us'
Subject: FW: Guns in Parks



Alderman Fraser – I appreciate your service to our community. It is a thankless job with many burdens and little pay. However, I disagree with your stance on this issue and sent the following email to a group at St. Patrick Presbyterian Church who received your email below. There is unfortunately a hysteria that seems to come over people on both sides of the issue of gun control, but particularly those who favor more gun control. My experience as a part time firearms instructor is that people who profess their disdain for guns and see no reason why any “normal” person would want to carry one suddenly have a significant change of heart when they find themselves on the wrong side of a gun held by a hardened career criminal that does not share yours and my respect for another person’s life, health or property. If you don’t believe me, go to any handgun carry permit class at Rangemaster and you are bound to meet someone who has had such an encounter. There is a young single female associate attorney in my office who had such an encounter in her driveway in Memphis several months ago. She was in my office the next day wanting to know how to get her carry permit. Ironically enough, it was the responding officers from MPD that first suggested to her that she needed to get her carry permit and a gun. Her situation was unusual. Because she was still in her car, panicked and hit her horn, she scared off the perpetrator. She just as easily could have ended up being taken into her house and raped and possibly killed. The same things happen in parks, and I feel quite confident that if you do the research, you will find that hundreds if not thousands of people over the past ten years have been the victim of crimes by violent criminals in parks, while not finding a single instance of a little league coach or referee who was shot by an irate parent who is a permit carrier. I will go out on a limb and suggest that there is not a single case of a permit carrier perpetrating a shooting at a soccer or baseball game, or a “mass murder” as one of the only four speakers who spoke in favor of the resolution suggested.



I applaud Aldermen Sarwar, Allen and Lott for the stand they took last night. By voting down this resolution, they probably did more to make Collierville’s parks and greenbelts safer than any other single action taken in recent years. The crime is out there. It has been happening on Germantown’s greenbelts and will eventually be coming to Collierville. It is not a hypothetical imagined threat of the Boogieman as Alderman Russell suggested. By voting down this resolution, the criminals have no reason to come here when the can go to Germantown, Memphis and Bartlett instead.



I hope that Aldermen Sarwar, Lott and Allen will not reconsider their votes and will not bring this resolution back on the agenda at the next meeting as you have suggested in your email below.



Thanks for your attention and service to our community.

Scott Frick

Collierville, TN

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Please share this with every Collierville carry permit holder.

In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity

Director - Shelby County TFA


http://www.tennesseefirearms.com