State Senate Speaker Defends “Guns In Bars” Legislation – Old And New

Tennessee Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey thinks the court that overturned last year’s so-called “guns in bars” law was wrong, and he’s ready to pass the new version which surfaced this week in the state legislature.

“If we hadn’t had a politically motivated court, overturn the bill that we passed last year, that I believe was completely constitutional – it was done based on bias against handgun carry permit holders – then we wouldn’t be in this position right now.”

Last year that law was found unconstitutionally vague. The new version would simply allow handgun permit holders to carry their weapon into any “establishment” that serves alcohol, as long as they don’t drink.

Ramsey says the argument that the “guns in bars” law discourages convention business in Tennessee is misplaced because some 37 states already have similar laws.

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Ramsey says he doesn’t believe the argument that the proposed law will cost the state convention business and tourism traffic.

Opponents of the law say other states are discouraging big conventions from coming to the state because of the perception of a Wild West atmosphere.

“Has it been used in Florida against them? Has it been used in Georgia against them? Has it been used in Alabama or Mississippi against them? This bill is already in place in 37 states. And I’ve challenged the press from the very beginning, find me one documented case in any of the 37 states where this has been abused.”

Ramsey scored not only the courts but the media for coverage of the issue.

“We passed it last year, it should still be the law, but it’s gonna be a while before any court acts on this. So therefore we’re gonna take it back up again. And I’ll say this, last year …the people said why are you spending so much time on gun legislation? We had some research done on that. We spent 2.1 per cent of our time on gun legislation. I think… the press spends more time on it than we do. This is something the citizens of the state of Tennessee want.”

Ramsey, the Republican speaker of the state Senate, is running for the Republican nomination for governor.