A short letter about handgun laws.

Recently my state (Tennessee) passed a law that allows persons with state handgun carry permits to carry their guns in parks. The same law provides local municipalities the option to ban guns in the parks within their jurisdictions. The complications exceeded anything I ever imagined and TV news stories about the issue have been far too frequent. After one such story where local school boards were refusing to hold school activities in parks where guns were allowed I reacted. I sent the following letter to the TV station that aired the story and I decided to publish it here also.

Guns in parks

As a handgun permit holder I feel more than a little insulted by some recent reactions to the guns in parks decision by the Tennessee Legislature. Opponents to guns act like I’m some crazy person who is subject to shooting wildly about. I am not! Like all legal permit holders I have established a record of non-violence and law abiding stability. I have never been charged with a felony, I have never been accused of domestic violence in any form, I am not and have never been a drug user, and I have never been judged mentally incompetent. In effect I am just about as safe a person to be around as any one you know. If I have my weapon with me it is not being brandished in a threatening manner, in fact you will never know if I have it or not.

Look around you in any public place. What can you say about the people you see? You really have no way to know what kind of person you may be looking at. If you know I have a Tennessee Handgun Carry Permit you can be sure I am not an unstable, violence prone felon. I am in fact a safer person to have next to you than some of the people you may know. Please stop acting like permit holders are dangerous. We have met the background checks and we have passed classes on proper safety procedures. We are not a danger to you and especially to your kids. The person carrying a gun without a permit is already a felon and he is not worried about what the law says.

D. Page

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