Haslam: Legislature should review guns-in-parks law after AG’s opinion

NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Haslam said Monday lawmakers should review the guns-in-parks law they passed in April in the wake of an attorney general’s opinion that said cities, counties and third-party contractors cannot ban permit holders from going armed in paid, ticketed events like concerts and other events in local parks.

“I think that’s a really good example of something that I would urge the legislature to go back and say, are there specific situations — now that you have the attorney general’s opinion — that you want to provide clarity to,” the governor told reporters.

Haslam declined to be drawn into a discussion about Memphis Mayor A C Wharton’s remarks, in the wake of the fatal shooting of a Memphis police officer Saturday night, that there are too many guns on the streets. Asked about the mayor’s remarks, the governor said, “I think we’ll wait. My reaction always when there’s an incident like this is, rather than react in the heat of it, let’s go back and look and see — where was the weapon that was used to murder the police officer? Where was it obtained? Was it obtained legally or not?

“Let’s go back and look through all that. If people are doing things illegally, it doesn’t matter the law we set up. They’re going to find their way around that. Like we’ve done in several of these other tragic situations, let’s drill down and see exactly what happened,” he said.

The legislature approved a bill in April abolishing the authority of municipal and county governments to ban handgun-carry permit holders from carrying guns in locally owned and operated parks under their control.

When Haslam signed the bill into law on April 24, he wrote a letter to legislative leaders saying, “I am concerned that an unintended consequence may be operational challenges for local leaders in managing their parks in a safe, effective and consistent manner, due to events and situations that could not have been anticipated in drafting this law.”

In the letter, he urged legislative leaders to work together with his administration to “monitor the implementation of this new law in our local communities.”

State Attorney General Herbert Slatery said in an advisory opinion last Wednesday that under the new law, permit holders cannot be banned from going armed even when the local parks are operated by a third party, or when ticketed events with limited access like concerts are held in them.

State Senate Democratic Leader Lee Harris of Memphis, who requested the opinion, said Friday that poses “serious safety challenges to communities across the state,” especially at large-scale events that take place in public parks.

Reporters asked Haslam after a school-year kickoff event at an elementary school in Mt. Juliet if the situations raised by the opinion and Harris are examples of unintended consequences he meant in the April letter.

“I think it’s a really good example. I think the attorney general made clear that public entities, even though they lease them out to private interests, the state law that was passed still applies” the governor said. “I do lean toward always saying, locals know what works for them and what their specific situations are that could lead to issues.”

Haslam also said he expects a report from Tennessee National Guard Adj. Gen. Max Haston this week on what the state can do to allow National Guard personnel to go armed in Guard facilities, in the wake of last month’s slaying of five U.S. military personnel in Chattanooga.

“On federal property, we can’t. Some of our facilities are federally owned and some are shared, so we have to make sure we have a policy we can actually implement. In other words, we don’t want a situation where someone says, well, you can carry it here but you can’t take it on the parking lot there, and that we don’t set people up for a situation they can’t legally implement,” the governor said.

Let’s go back and look through all that. If people are doing things illegally, it doesn’t matter the law we set up. They’re going to find their way around that. Like we’ve done in several of these other tragic situations, let’s drill down and see exactly what happened.”

Gov. Bill Haslam