Booze and Bullets: lethel combo
Beth Clothier
Issue date: 6/10/09 Section: Opinion
Last week, Tennessee added another perk to its established concealed carry laws, allowing its citizens to carry concealed handguns into bars and restaurants, because mixing alcohol and firearms is always a good idea. As if bar fights weren't violent enough, now there's the exciting added twist of deadly weaponry.
Sadly, the veto of Governor Phil Bredesen, one of Tennessee's few elected officials who looked at the matter with some kind of sense, was overridden by the State Senate and House. Bredesen, who according to the Associated Press is a gun owner and hunter himself, said that he believed having guns and alcohol in such close proximity was a bad idea. I can't help but agree.
Maybe I'm lacking in perspective, but I don't understand why someone would need to take a handgun into a restaurant. It's not like you are required to "bag" your own food, and unless there's a standoff at the buffet over the last piece of fried chicken, the only tempers escalating in restaurants are usually those of the staff and the occasional unhappy customer. In other words, nothing that would require one to have a gun hidden under their dinner jacket.
As for guns in bars, are these people serious? I've seen my share of bar fights and have been afraid of those belligerent drunks who lose all sense of reason. Of those who will throw a punch at anyone, including women and people in wheelchairs if one looks at them the wrong way (I'm not kidding, I really have seen someone punch a man in a wheelchair). The only weapons these people were carrying were their fists, and that was trouble enough.
I understand that Tennessee and most other states allowing concealed carry weapons have a long list of qualifications and requirements for those who apply for permits, including classes on handgun training and safety. However, with the added element of alcohol, how soon before all training and safety is forgotten in favor of a misbegotten sense of revenge or the drunken need to show off? And what about the possibility of someone else seeing and taking the gun, someone who hasn't taken the required classes and may not fall under the standard qualifications?
Hopefully it won't take a shoot out on Beale Street to make Tennessee see some sense and rethink this law, but until then, if you're headed south, be sure to pack your flak jacket.
Sadly, the veto of Governor Phil Bredesen, one of Tennessee's few elected officials who looked at the matter with some kind of sense, was overridden by the State Senate and House. Bredesen, who according to the Associated Press is a gun owner and hunter himself, said that he believed having guns and alcohol in such close proximity was a bad idea. I can't help but agree.
Maybe I'm lacking in perspective, but I don't understand why someone would need to take a handgun into a restaurant. It's not like you are required to "bag" your own food, and unless there's a standoff at the buffet over the last piece of fried chicken, the only tempers escalating in restaurants are usually those of the staff and the occasional unhappy customer. In other words, nothing that would require one to have a gun hidden under their dinner jacket.
As for guns in bars, are these people serious? I've seen my share of bar fights and have been afraid of those belligerent drunks who lose all sense of reason. Of those who will throw a punch at anyone, including women and people in wheelchairs if one looks at them the wrong way (I'm not kidding, I really have seen someone punch a man in a wheelchair). The only weapons these people were carrying were their fists, and that was trouble enough.
I understand that Tennessee and most other states allowing concealed carry weapons have a long list of qualifications and requirements for those who apply for permits, including classes on handgun training and safety. However, with the added element of alcohol, how soon before all training and safety is forgotten in favor of a misbegotten sense of revenge or the drunken need to show off? And what about the possibility of someone else seeing and taking the gun, someone who hasn't taken the required classes and may not fall under the standard qualifications?
Hopefully it won't take a shoot out on Beale Street to make Tennessee see some sense and rethink this law, but until then, if you're headed south, be sure to pack your flak jacket.
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