The price tag for that new law that will allow people to legally carry their guns into the ball parks and playgrounds is starting to add up.
If guns are allowed in Murfreesboro’s parks, the city can expect to lose Spring Fling and the $3.4 million in tourism dollars the week-long high school spring sport state tournaments bring each year.
That was the response by TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress on Monday when asked about the high school association’s stance on guns being allowed at parks where high school state tournaments are held.
“We don’t have a written policy,” Childress said. “But if anyone had a gun where our kids are, we wouldn’t be there. There is no way possible that we’d allow a gun in one of our events.
“As much as we’d like Murfreesboro to be in consideration for Spring Fling, I just don’t see how we could recommend them if guns are allowed in their parks.”
Councilman Toby Gilley: more than a day late and a dollar short.
Murfreesboro Councilman Toby Gilley is a vocal supporter of allowing people to carry guns in our local parks and has said all along that Murfreesboro should leave the new law alone.
Now that $3.5 million in revenue to local businesses is at stake, Gilley thinks his new right should now come with confusing conditions and exceptions not clearly allowed by the law he eagerly supported.
“I think we could perhaps compromise that when we have certain events here (like Spring Fling) we don’t allow them,” Gilley said. “Maybe we don’t have a blanket law having it in effect all the time. We can have it up to the event holder’s request.”
Gilley favors the city following a state law that allows people with gun permits to carry firearms into parks provided that the council takes no action to uphold its existing ban before Sept. 1.
City Manager Roger Haley, however, and Police Chief Glenn Chrisman, Parks and Recreation Director Lanny Goodwin, and Golf Course Director Tracy Wilkins recommend keeping the gun ban in place.
Since Rutherford Republicans have cited results of DNJ online polls in the past as justification for silly laws, maybe we can send Toby a message by voting in the DNJ’s new poll on this subject.
As an American-not democrate or republican-An American! I have the right to have my gun with me any where I please. I have a carry permit, so weather I’m driving in truck, walking in the park, or eating at the local bbq I am packing… you will never know I even have my gun unless I or my family is in harm. At that point in time, you will know I have a gun because whoever has placed myself or my family in harm, will be dead!
enough said!
Don’t back down Toby!
TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress has a irrational fear of guns is the problem. A gun ban in a park does not stop criminals, it only disarms innocent victims and promotes crime. Childress must not have been taught in school about the US Constitution either.
Contact your state representative and ask that Childress be removed from his job.
Maybe its not an irrational fear of guns, but a rational fear of paying outrageous insurance premiums for events. sounds pretty conservative to me. maybe you gun nuts could go run an actual business or something, ’cause then you’d know how the real world works. then maybe you and your republican nutjob friends would think through this crazy legislation before you pass it.
They don’t care about the liability businesses have to take on. Republicans have abandoned small businesses leaving them to pay the price for their nutwing policies.
Liability business have to take on? How the real world works? Fear of outrageous insurance premiums for events? In reality and fact, people who support restrictive gun-laws do have a fear of guns due to their misconceived notion of law-abiding carry permit holders. Those who perceive gun-laws provide a cost benefit have a misconception of their own safety and the safety of the general public. Whether it is irrational or not lies within the believed perception of the individual.
In this world there are predators who seek out easy prey and what better place than a location where one has a known advantage. That is reality! Like it or not, welcome to the world in 2009! How do gun-laws protect you from criminals who disregard laws and legislation anyway? How will YOU protect yourself, your family, or those around you when the next degenerate decides that he deserves what you have more than you do, or worse, simply excercises authority on your loved ones, deciding that they’ve lived long enough and appoints himself as executioner? Sure, eventually law enforcement will arrive, they will take control of the situation, investigate the scene and arrest the perpetrators. But how many will suffer and/or lose their life because YOU failed to accept responsibility for your own safety?
In reference to insurance preimiums, here is a question for consideration. What are the limits of your policy for defense litigation costs involving charges of gross negligence for denying an individuals right to self defense?
yeah except, phil, you and your republican friends didn’t address any of the insurance issues or liability issues (aka REAL WORLD ISSUES). you just made it all legal to grandstand and make a silly point and let everyone else sort it out. now little league is in jeopardy, small business owners are pissed, and law enforcement is worried. you republicans didn’t do the hard work of actually tackling the underlying issues, you just made a scene, got paid off by the nutty NRA folks, and moved on to some other grandstanding issue. This is exactly why 74% of republicans feel their party no longer represents them (new pew research poll out yesterday)
Wait… listen… do you hear that? It’s the underlying issue! The rest of the story! Gun control is not about ones personal responsibility for safety or the human constitutionally affirmed right to self defense and preservation. It’s about political partisian and the highest bidder! In this case, a week-long high school spring sport state tournament is worth more than the safety, security and lives of residents and visitors who would enjoy parks and recreation areas throughout the remainder of the year!
This entire issue has an uncanny familiarity to it… something regarding thirty pieces of silver and the purchase of a potter’s field.
It’s interesting how political views and emotions can cloud one’s clarity on matters that should be black and white… not gray.
yeah, i heard something, but it was the sound of republican spin. you just stated that this issue boiled down to the highest bidder and you’re right. the highest bidder was the NRA and the fear of republican legislators losing all that cash in their campaign acounts from the NRA if they didn’t back this silly bill. i guarantee you that NO republican will campaign on the fact that they supported guns in bars and parks, because they want this to silently go away and wait for the NRA check. that was all it was for - caving to the highest bidder.
With this current congress and president you better get all your gun licenses ASAP before they take all our rights away.