Shelbyville bans guns in parks

Shelbyville joined other cities around the state Thursday that have chosen to opt out of a new law that would allow citizen with handgun carry permits to possess their firearms in public parks.

With little comment, the council unanimously voted to prohibit handguns from city parks and other areas of Shelbyvile.

Public Chapter No. 428 allows carry permit holders to possess a handgun "while within or on a public park, natural area, historic park, natural trail, campground, forest, greenway, waterway or other similar place that is owned or operated by the state, a county, a municipality ...."

The law option permits a city to prohibit the carrying of a firearm in these places.

Councilman Thomas Landers was the only member to make a statement, saying that he was a carry permit holder himself.

"The reason we're having to vote like this is because of the gray areas a lot of you don't know about," Lander said to the citizens attending the meeting.

"There are school children at school functions at the park, and you can not legally have a handgun," he said.

Landers added that he really did not feel the council was taking anyone's rights away from them "because we can't have them there now anyways" due to the kids in the park.

The city will now display signs in prominent locations around the parks, which will say that state law prescribes a maximum penalty of 11 months, 29 days and a fine not to exceed $2,500 for carrying a firearm in the parks.

Seven out of the nine people that spoke on the matter three weeks ago were in favor of allowing guns in the park, but nearly all of those did not live in Shelbyville.

The possession of weapons was already allowed in recreational areas for individuals in certain circumstances such as law enforcement, reserve officers in training, private police, lands designated as open for hunting, persons attending gun or knife shows, or someone delivering or picking up passengers who do not use the weapon in any manner.

According to a survey by the University of Tennessee's Municipal Technical Advisory Service, 67 percent of the cities responding are opting out of the provision while 28 percent are not opting out.

Thirty percent of 295 cities in Tennessee responded to the survey, with some municipalities reporting that the matter was not on their agendas until later in August.

Also, out of the 88 that did respond, 11 did not have parks and four that did respond have parks but left the question blank regarding whether they intend to opt out.

Within Bedford County, Bell Buckle has opted out, while a proposal to opt out of the measure died in Wartrace for lack of a motion.