Gun Rights News Roundup

Articles, news stories, and op-eds of interest to gun owners:

[Tennessee] House overrides Gov. Bredesen's veto of restaurant carry bill:

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee House today voted 69-27 to override Gov. Phil Bredesen’s veto of a bill allowing handgun-carry permit holders to bring loaded weapons into restaurants and bars selling alcohol.

That was more than the 66-23 margin when the bill originally passed.

The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, has said he intends to bring the measure up before the chamber on Thursday.

The House action was the chamber’s first override of a Bredesen veto and also the first since 2001, when lawmakers overrode then-Gov. Don Sundquist, who vetoed an appropriations bill. ...

Comment: Given that the bill passed by wide margins in both the House and Senate, expect the Senate to override the Governor's veto as well. Note that, while critics and the media have referred to this as the "guns in bars" bill, no doubt to play up the image of drunken gunfights erupting, the bill is more accurately characterized as a "restaurant carry" bill. The official bill summary notes that the bill would prohibit permit holders from consuming alcoholic beverages while carrying, and would still prohibit carry in age-restricted establishments (where only those over 21 are admitted and patrons' IDs are checked at the door). That isn't your typical family restaurant that also happens to serve alcohol.


[Georgia] Columnist says state has more off-limits locations for gun carry than California:

Georgia or California: Which place has more off limits locations to bearing, i.e., actually carrying, a firearm. California has more than 50,000 people with firearms licences.

California is a "may issue" state.

But, if you are one of the more than 50,000 people who have a firearms license in California, are you better off than a Georgian? Prior to July of 2008, the members of GeorgiaCarry.Org, Inc. contended that Georgia had more places off limits to the bearing of arms than any state in the nation. Now, in 2009, Georgia still has more places off limits than California. Most people assume California is highly restrictive of the right to bear arms and that Georgia is a “gun friendly state.” Are these twin assumptions justified?
...
In sum, California, the state assumed to restrict and burden the right to bear arms, permits the bearing of arms in elementary schools, colleges, the State Capitol Building, the Governor’s Mansion, town hall, police stations, libraries, and in airports. Georgia, the state assumed to permit the free exercise of the right to bear arms, criminalizes the bearing of arms in all of these locations, in some cases imposing a felony charge, even if the person bearing a pistol has a firearms license issued pursuant to Georgia law. Hopefully, this short article has challenged your assumptions regarding the right to bear arms in Georgia and in California. In addition, by providing the actual Code Sections, it is hoped that this article will provide you with some of the intellectual ammunition you need to return Georgia’s right to bear arms to an actual “right,” rather than an overburdened “privilege.”

Comment: Of course, the likelihood that the ordinary, law-abiding citizen in California can get a carry permit is much lower than in Georgia. In most of California's large cities, the probability of an average law-abiding citizen getting a carry permit is vanishingly low. Fifty thousand permits might sound like a lot, until you consider California has about 37 million people. I'll bet Georgia, with a population of about ten million, has both a far greater percentage of permit holders (due to its "shall issue" permit law), as well as a greater absolute number of permit holders.