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Media always missed point of 'guns in bars'

A judge in Nashville ruled that the so-called "guns in bars" law is unconstitutional because it is too vague:

 

 

 

It may not seem like such a big deal that this law was overturned, especially since the news media really ran with the whole "guns in bars" meme. To believe some in the press, we were headed for a sort of Statewide "gunfight at the OK Corral." Both the press and those for and against this legislation have missed the point about why those of us who favored this law felt that was needed to begin with. Tennesseans have been left with the impression that this law was about letting people pack heat in Tootsie's. While the legislation certainly allowed for that (provided the owners of Tootie's didn't object), the purpose wasn't to insure that honky-tonk patrons could have big irons on their hips, but to insure that those who had concealed-carry permits had the benefit of personal protection if they needed it when taking their family out to dinner-a regular activity for many, if not most Tennesseans.

 

 

Prior to the passage of the so-called "guns in bars" law, law-abiding citizens with concealed carry permits could not take their hidden protection with them into Applebee's, or O'Charley's, or the Olive Garden, or Friday's, or Red Lobster, or any other number of casual dining establishments because a great many of them happened to have bars inside. Nevermind that you came there to eat with your family or friends, if someone tried to rob the place you wouldn't have the opportunity to defend yourself if you had a permit because that is considered having a gun in a bar-forget that you weren't drinking or weren't sitting anywhere near the bar. Without this law, Tennessee's concealed carry permits were worthless in many of the very places regular Tennesseans frequent every day. Our concealed carry program has no teeth without this kind of legislation. Indeed, this kind of law is so critical to the effectivenes of concealed carry as a personal protection and crime deterrent that without it we might as well not have concealed carry at all.

 

That argument was never successfully posited in the media by people who understood the importance of this law, and it became all about "guns in bars" when it was really about "protection at your favorite restaurant." It is to be hoped that the Legislature will make the law as clearly unambiguous as possible so that a Tennessean's concealed carry permit means that they can carry where they might actually have need to, as opposed to where the State says they can and cannot.