Great Forum

[waynesan]

I can't believe I just made a suggestion for this forum this morning and then later today find this new forum here.

I am planning on calling my State Reps tomorrow about the pending legislation:

HB1143/SB1885 - Restaraunt Carry

HB2184/SB2143 - Carry in State Parks

HB0132/SB0053 - Carry in hunting areas, refuges, wildlife management areas,

and National Forrests.

HB0067/SB0153 - Allows storing firearms in locked vehicle on any property

set aside for vehicles.

If every law abiding gun owner in Tennessee would call their State Reps at every oportunity when favorable legislation is being considered I think it would go a long way to make our state more friendly to those of us who want to carry for us and our family's protection.

One thing I think would be a good idea is for every gun store in the state to have flyers or notices of some kind with pending legislation concerning firearms to give to their customers or at least displayed so everyone coming into the store could see it. Also have the phone number of the State Senator and State Representitives for that area so the customer could be encouraged to make that call. It never ceases to amaze me how uninvolved many gun owners are in the political process of lawmaking in our state. All you have to do is consider the mess the gunowners in New York, New Jersey, Mass. and a few others are in and wonder if the gunowners in years gone by could have joined together and stopped the restrictive laws from being passed if they had.

[waynesan]

Well, like I said last night, I called my Reps today and got to talk to one of them personally. While he is very pro gun, he is not very optimistic about getting any pro gun bills passed through the House. Its not hopeless but it will be more than difficult to get anything past the Naifeh machine.

CALL YOUR REPS. Don't put it off. Make sure they know your position and what you want them to do. Read the posts by "Len" on these boards for some good info on how the system works.

[Marswolf]

Yeah, Naifeh is the problem. Even when he is in the minority he uses his power to prevent bills from coming to vote if he doesn't personally like them.

If you have a Democrat legislator representing you, you need to put pressure on him to rein in the Speaker.

The Senate usually isn't a problem. My Senator is Lt. Gov. Ramsey. His office is about three miles from my home. He's very pro-gun.

[TGO David]

Waynesan, do you mind giving sort of a transcript of how your conversation with your Rep went? Perhaps how you brought up those particular bills and what was said?

[Guest GlocKingTN]

Like Tungsten said. Surely you cant just call your State Rep and say "wassup dude" or some sh*t like that. Tell us some things that needs to be said! In order for him to listen to us rather than just hearing us!

[waynesan]

GlockingTN, Tungsten,

I went to the tn.gov website and got the phone numbers in Nashville for Ramsey, Lundberg, and Vaughn (I live in Lundberg's district but I own some property in Vaughn's so I figured I'd call both).

I told each ones staff member that I had some bills that were pending that I supported and wanted them to pass on to their bosses that I wanted them to do everything they could to get them passed. I gave them the bill #s that I posted in my first post on this thread. There was little more than just taking down my information with a promise to send it on and that my reps would probably call me later to discuss it with me ( they were all out of their office at this time ). I had my doubts about a return phone call, but you never know.

About an hour later my phone rang, I answered and it was Jon Lundberg returning my call. He asked me what he could do for me and I told him I was calling about the pending bills. He asked if I was for or against them. I told him I was for them and wanted him to do everything he could to get them passed. He assured me he would and that he also thought that many of the restrictions on handgun carry were silly and fly in the face of common sence. However, he told me that in his opinion it was going to be very difficult to get anything passed in the House. There are just too many antis in positions of power that have too much control over what goes through. Its not impossible but a tough row to hoe.

And GlockingTN, it really turned into a "wassup dude" kind of conversation. We shot the sh*t for about 10 minutes and I actually begged off to let him go cause I know he's busy. This was my first time calling Lundberg as he is a new member of the House but I must say he impressed me a lot. I think we got a good one when we got him.

From what I hear, if a representitive is in his or her office when you call, its not that uncommon for them to get on the phone with you and talk about your problem.

But the main thing is CALL. Let them know how you feel about what you want. Be polite, but make your voice heard. If you have an anti gun representitive and they never hear from you, and your friends, and your family, and your neighbors, then if they vote against what you want they aren't going to know.

[Guest db99wj]

Great information, appreciate the advice, will be calling soon.

[waynesan]

Well guys,

After my post yesterday about getting a call from Jon Lundberg, today I got a call from Rep. Nathan Vaughn. Nathan Vaughn is a Democrat from Kingsport. While I have always been impressed with Mr. Vaughn's stand on issues on which I've heard him speak, I was amazed to hear him talk to me about his support of 2nd Amendment issues and his support for the bills that have been mentioned in this thread. I won't go into details about our conversation but I was so impressed that he would call me and talk for over 20 minutes about an issue that is so controversial in Nashville but which he supports wholeheartedly.

The most important thing he told me was that when the bills are sent to committee they will either be killed or sent to the House for a vote. Some committees are better than others. They may or may not all be sent to the same committee. Just have to wait and see who gets what and watch for what happens.

[Guest GlocKingTN]

So your a celebrity now waynesan? (j/k) Glad you got to talk to them and hope it made a difference somehow. I will be doing the same.

[Guest Archimedes]

Excellent work, all.

My legislators are Charlotte Burks and Henry Fincher.

I don't know a huge amount about politics, but I know what happened to Tommy Burks. As for Fincher.....eh.

I'll give it a shot, though.

~Archi

P.S. - Just thought it might be cool to use filters on words like "shot" or "Glock." Have them replaced with a bullseye, bullet, or firing pistol. Then again, those filters can get annoying.

[Marswolf]

I'll give it a shot, though.

That might be an unfortunate choice of words considering the Tommy Burks matter....

P.S. - Just thought it might be cool to use filters on words like "shot" or "Glock." Have them replaced with a bullseye, bullet, or firing pistol. Then again, those filters can get annoying.

Please NO!