Tennessee Resturant Carry Bill

The bill has passed the Senate and needs the Govenors signature. Please call his office and tell him to support bill HB0962 - Resturant Carry Bill. I called and it took all of 20-seconds to tell him. The number is 615-741-2001.

Called this morning. Supposedly veto proof though.

Spoke briefly with Lt. Gov Ramsey over the weekend. He is hopeful of signature on this bill, and anticipates little trouble with the parks-carry bill coming up very soon.

Interesting will be the fate of the Coburn amendment to the federal credit card reformbill (Coburn amendment would allow CCW holders to carry in National Parks, NFS etc.).

Coburn amendment passed the House by a wide margin, and is on its way to the White House. This oughta be good....

VETOED!

Yes, our NRA A-rated Governor earned an F today.

The House and Senate seem to have the necessary votes to override the veto (in TN only a simple majority vote is needed, IIRC); however, Bredesen chose his timing wisely, waiting until after the legislature adjourned for the weekend to make his intentions known. His press conference/announcement of the veto was, well, almost laughable...a well-choreographed piece of political caca. The House sponsor of the bill has already indicated his intent to bring an override vote to the House floor before the session adjourns (hopefully, this week). Assuming the House votes to overturn, a Senate vote to do likewise should not be far behind.

It may not hurt, however, for those so inclined to contact their state representative and senator and encourage them to expeditiously pursue efforts to override the veto of HB00962. Contact info can be found here.

The Tennessee House this afternoon voted 69-27 to override Gov. Bredesen's veto of HB 0962. Lt Gov Ramsey indicates that the companion vote in the Senate will occur first thing Thursday morning. It appears that there is adequate support in the Seante to likewise vote to override the veto.

Tennessee Legislature Overrides Governor's Veto of HB 962

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Fairfax, Va. - In a strong reaffirmation of the self-defense rights of Tennesseans, the Tennessee House and Senate have successfully overridden Governor Phil Bredesen's veto of House Bill 962. This NRA-supported bill will enable law-abiding right-to-carry permit holders to carry firearms for self-defense in restaurants. HB 962 passed both the House and Senate with broad bipartisan support, but Gov. Bredesen vetoed the bill on May 28, disappointing more than 200,000 right-to-carry permit holders in his state. While an override of the veto only needed a simple majority vote to pass, it cleared both chambers with overwhelming, bi-partisan support. Passage of the measure will allow law-abiding Tennesseans to protect themselves and their families. This measure was overridden today in the Senate by a margin of 21-9.

"Until today, Tennessee law has prevented right-to-carry permit holders from having the chance to defend themselves from criminal attack while in a restaurant," said Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. "This veto override proves Tennessee legislators trust permit holders and understand this is a common sense measure that must become law in their state, just as it is already law in 35 other states. HB 962 will allow permit holders the opportunity to protect their own lives and the lives of those they love."

HB 962 is crucial because crime does happen in restaurants. On April 2, 2009, Benjamin Felix Goeser was gunned down at Jonny's Sports Bar on Nolensville Road in Nashville. His wife, Nicole Goeser, has a right-to-carry permit, but she had to keep her gun locked in the car because of Tennessee law. Mrs. Goeser actively lobbied for the passage of this measure.

According to the Tennessee Legislature's legal staff, this common sense law will go into effect July 14, per Tennessee state law.

"Bill sponsors State Senator Doug Jackson (D-25) and State Representative Curry Todd (R-95), Tennessee leaders Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey (R-02) and Speaker Kent Williams (R-04), as well as many other members of the Tennessee Legislature, should be applauded for their steadfast efforts to pass this important bill that will give good, law-abiding Tennesseans the chance to defend themselves and their loved ones while dining out," concluded Cox. "A special thank you to Nikki Goeser who actively worked on the passage of this legislation in memory of her late husband."

Great news! I received a robo-call from the NRA 2 days ago and e-mailed Jason Mumpower.

This is his response:

"Harry:

I will do more than consider it...later today, I will vote to override the veto.

Thanks,

Jason"

Yes, had a similar exchange with both Rep Mumpower and Lt Gov Ramsey. Indeed, all of the legislators in our region were strong support.

Hopefully, parks carry won't go down the same road, but I just have a feeling that our Gov ain't done yet.

Now for the growing pains! Nashville(I believe) is already trying to circumvent the law by pulling beer permits of non-posting restaurants. There is likely going to have to be alot of voting with dollars for a while.

On a side note, I always thought Kent got kicked out of the party to quickly, maybe they should let him back in. He actually let stuff be voted on.

There's been some noise along those lines from Nashville Metro Council...a resolution that would essentially require a proper "no handguns" posting by any establishment seeking a beer permit is supposedly going to be introduced at next week's Metro meeting. House and Senate members are already looking at ways to prevent such an end-run, and Metro itself is seeking guidance from its legal staff to see if the proposed resolution violates other sections of state firearms law. Since the new law already allows the owner of any establishment to post his property if he/she so desires, the new resolution is nothing more than a very transparent snub at the General Assembly, and a spiteful furtherance at attempts to put fences around the 2nd Amendment...