HB 2521: As introduced, revises various provisions governing the prohibition or restriction of weapons at meetings or on property owned by a private or government entity, including eliminating the prohibitions a local government can place on possession of a handgun in certain locations such as libraries, child care agencies, buildings containing a law enforcement agency, and facilities that administer a Head Start program; removes the limitation of the concealed carry restriction to only persons with an enhanced handgun carry permit; makes other related changes. – Amends TCA Title 39.
And I have forgotten before: IANAL WARNING!
To put it in a very simple way, the way I see it, it puts the onus of being a Gun Free Zone on the owners/managers wanting their locations to be Gun Free Zones. You are asked to leave or secure your weapon outside if you are caught armed in a GFZ and at most, you are hit with a $50 fine for being ornery and refusing the first time (Don’t, just leave). Governments must provide withplaces to secure the weapons at no cost (like this very much) under the care of a LEO. There are some other stuff that seems OK to me, but I await your input.
Not only do they have to tell you to go put the gun in the car, but they have to hand you written notice that includes the name and address of the entity responsible for the prohibition.
That’s amazing….but if history teaches me anything it’s that by the time this winds up for a floor vote, it will actually be that the person carrying the weapon will have to give the entity responsible for the prohibition their own name and address instead. I say that because there was a bill several years ago that started with “Businesses that prohibit firearms are civilly responsible for any harm that comes to a permit holder if that permit holder is complying with a gun free zone” and ended with “Business owners are in no way responsible for the actions of permit holders who disobey their gun free zone signs.”
There is no way that FedEx, Nissan, and Bridgestone would let this happen.