One major thing is that school events only have relevance when held on an athletic field.  LexisNexis not updated yet, but here's the text of the bill:

http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/109/CCRReports/CC0001.pdf

- OS

"including but not limited to, a football or soccer field, tennis court, basketball court, track, running trail, Frisbee field, or similar multi-use field"

I feel like you could point at any area of any park in the state and claim that area was either a running trail or a Frisbee field. And what about this part: "Knew or should have known the athletic activity or school-related activity described in subdivision (b)(1)(H)(a) was taking place on the property". Who decides that you "should have known"? Like there was a 2 paragraph article in page 100 of last week's Tennessean stating that there was going to be a high school track event at the park that day, so you should have known not to carry your gun that day?

I don't see how this new wording is any better than before.

Not being able to carry at all in most municipal parks was better? In parks where you could carry, it was better when a frigging small school picnic under the trees somewhere closed the whole park for carry?

Don't sweat the small stuff, ain't gonna be any wholesale rounding up of folks that are "too close" to an athletic field in a park being used by a school. Especially if you conceal carry.

It was a "feel good" compromise sop for the namby pambies just to get the damn thing passed, much just like the rather silly "using switchblade in a crime" thrown into 39-17-1307 when knife restrictions were lifted.

- OS

When the school is there they pretty much use every bit of grass they can find for PE and soccer and football practice.  Even the drainage field becomes a sports area.

Again much of this is not well defined.
i wish it was better defined without any "well you should know" bs.  But I don't expect it'll happen either.

I'm saying that the wording is so vague and ambiguous that this is still the case. That's certainly been the TFA's take on the latest legislation.

I pushed hard to get the parks bill passed, and what we have now is definitely better than what we had in the past. I just think the whole "school use" issue still needs to be fixed.

If you haven't noticed through the years, TN weapons laws have freed up incrementally, "progress not perfection" as the saying goes.

- OS

I'm not sure why you think I disagree with you. I'm just saying that the school use issue is something that we still need to work on because, even with the latest change, it is still too open for interpretation. Like I said previously, I worked really hard to get the current parks bill passed, and now I can carry if I want when I go hiking in Haw Ridge park. However I still don't feel safe open carrying because I'm worried that some school's track team is going to have a practice day there or something, which might/possibly/maybe put me in violation of the "school use" clause. This thread was started to identify TN gun laws that need to be improved and I'm saying that is one of the things that we still need to improve. I am fully aware that TN gun laws have been improved incrementally over the years. I think removing the school use clause, or at least making it much more clear, would be a great incremental improvement to our current park carry laws.

In a similar manner I think we should be working toward incrementally improving the carry permit laws by reducing or removing the penalty for carrying past a gunbuster sign. I think that is a reasonable and realistic goal for the next legislative session.

Well, you're right, I don't disagree with any of that.

The reason TN gun law has been so tough to change all at once in a big chunk is the fact that unlike any other state to my knowledge, we begin with the premise that possession of a loaded firearm is illegal. Period.  Even possession in your home is a "defense" granted to that basic starting point.

People in other states don't usually grok that regarding "The Patron State of Shootin' Stuff".

Most states simply pass laws against certain actions with firearms, while TN starts with premise ALL possession of loaded firearms is illegal, and then gives a scatload of defenses or exceptions.

It may seem like a minor nuance but it's a 130 year old or so tenet that has really affected both jurisprudence and legislative effort because it has affected the mind of the TN citizenry with the "guns are bad" default mentality, and you have to be special in some way or other to be grudgingly allowed to use them, let alone carry them in public.

So now we're at the phase of passing muster and buying a privilege to do so, yet still with many "except for here" provisos.  


- OS

By far the biggest problem I have with TN state law on firearms.  The rest is just nit-picky shit that hopefully will be dealt with over time (e.g. guns in parks BS).  

The fact that you are guilty - right off the bat - by carrying or having a gun is against everything this country used to stand for.