Haslam signs guns-in-parks bill

The governor signed the controversial guns-in-parks bill Friday morning.

Gov. Bill Haslam acknowledged he had initial concerns about the bill, but he approves of the latest version that passed the House and Senate.

"Overall I believe the legislation in its final form is a vast improvement from the bill as initially introduced," Haslam wrote in a letter to Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell explaining his decision.

"However, 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."

Haslam told reporters Thursday he'd reviewed the legislation and would take action soon.

The bill nixes any local bans on people with handgun permits taking their guns into parks.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean has outspokenly criticized the bill. Friday morning he said he didn't know what the governor planned to do with the legislation.

"I was opposed to the bill, opposed to having guns in parks. And if that becomes the law in the state of Tennessee and our local option is taken away from us, we'll have to follow the law," Dean told reporters Friday.

Dean said he planned to work with the Metro legal department to better understand how the law could be enforced.

The bill came in part because of lobbying work by the National Rifle Association. Chris Cox, head of the NRA's lobbying arm, cheered the bill as a victory for "Second Amendment freedoms."

"Law-abiding Tennesseans have a fundamental right to protect themselves, whether in their homes, or in parks. This will remove a patchwork of laws throughout the state that could have turned law-abiding citizens into unintentional criminals," Cox said in a statement.

Gun control advocacy organizations Everytown for Gun Safety, the state chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense and the Safe Tennessee Project all issued statements opposing the bill and the governor's decision to sign it.

"The reality that the legislature would not listen to the mayors, city councils, the Department of Education, school boards, police departments, sheriff's departments, school administrators, and citizens across the state that opposed this bill and instead pass a lobbyist written law opposed by taxpayers is shameful," read the statement from the Safe Tennessee Project.

After a lengthy back and forth — which included proposals to allow guns in the statehouse and to ban squirt guns or other imitation weapons around school property — lawmakers came up with a compromise that includes language about guns and school events at parks.

The bill says that someone with a handgun permit may not be within the "immediate vicinity" of a school-sanctioned event at a park while that event is underway. The law doesn't define "immediate vicinity," but says once that person is made aware that he is within that "immediate vicinity" he must leave (the person can store his gun properly and return and be within the law).

"Our administration raised the need for clarification of this issue during the legislative process, and it received additional discussion on the floors of the Senate and the House as local school boards weighed it with concerns," Haslam wrote in the letter.

"To the sponsors' credit, they were receptive to these concerns, and the final version of the bill made clear that guns are not allowed at school-related activities taking place in parks."

The bill also allows cities and counties to leave up signs that say guns are banned in parks, even though the guns won't be banned for people with permits. Initially the bill was set to take effect before and expressly for the NRA's annual meeting, but debate over the measure delayed the bill.

Supporters say the bill offers people a chance to legally protect themselves in parks that can at times be remote. Opponents say the bill is confusing for parents and gun owners, and any time there are guns around children at parks tragic accidents may happen.

Haslam originally expressed doubts over the bill, saying he thought allowing local governments to decide their own local gun bans was the best practice. The bill has changed since those comments, though.

If Haslam had vetoed the bill, the Tennessee House of Representatives seemingly had enough votes to override his veto. It takes only 50 votes to override a veto, and 61 House members voted in favor of the original measure. Even more supported the updated version of the bill.

Jason Gonzales contributed to this report.

Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.