2014 Legislative Goals

[tnguy]

Compromise only works when it's between entities working in good faith.

[tnhandgun57]

 Do away with the requirement of background checks for HCP holders to buy a gun. We've already been thru

 that once. No need to do it again. Yeah, I know, the State wants the $10. Still a double tax.

 I'll agree with another post, we shouldn't need a permit at all.

 

+1

[JayC]

How about we do away with TICS altogether?  I mean it's completely unconstitutional to begin with, so why keep it around at all?

[Pat]

Not exactly a legislative goal, but a goal for 2014 nonetheless... let's not lose focus, guys... we need to dethrone Alexander especially, as well as any other crooked dastard politicians up for (s)election before we do much else...

 

Besides that, if we can try to get any gun regs relaxed, that's a plus... permit-less carry sure would be great.

[RichardR]

How about we do away with TICS altogether? I mean it's completely unconstitutional to begin with, so why keep it around at all?

Because it creates a false sense of comfort for a lot of folks who wrongly believes that it prevents criminals from obtaining firearms.

[JayC]

Getting rid of TICS wouldn't stop background checks..  It would just make them free, faster, and less error prone...  Oh yeah and get rid of an unconstitutional tax...

 

What's not to love about that plan?

 

Only republicans who claim to want to make government smaller would see the 90+% false positive rate of TICS as anything other than a sign from above it's nothing but a make work program for TDOS.

 

Because it creates a false sense of comfort for a lot of folks who wrongly believes that it prevents criminals from obtaining firearms.

[dawgdoc]

As a Georgian who goes to Tennessee daily, I can only offer my moral support to the cause (I really hate that the local governments can prohibit carrying in their parks; makes me feel so safe).

 

In regard to the sign law--I know that once a law is passed, it is very difficult to abolish, but it might be easier to change.  I hate that signs can make me an instant criminal just because I walked in without seeing it.  I recently took the South Carolina Concealed Handgun Permit class.  One of the interesting things was their sign law.  The short summary is that signs carry weight in South Carolina.  However, it appears that their pro-carry group, as part of the compromise, managed to get such specific sign requirements, that very few places have the proper sign.  Without the proper sign, carrying there is not a crime.

 

Their sign law specifies the font, the height of the letters,the specific dimensions of the sign, the specific placement of the sign (the maximum and minimum heights above ground at all entrances); it even specifies exactly what the gunbuster symbol must look like (must have the slash running from lower left to upper right, for example).  For a park or other place without doors to be posted, the sign must be huge (3 ft x 4 ft) and located very few hundred feet around the perimeter.  It has half a page of specifics.  If any of these particulars are not met, then it is not properly posted.

 

Knowing that I read on this board that some official had given an opinion that a person in Tennessee might still be prosecuted even if the sign was not "correct," I asked the instructor if there was anything similar in South Carolina.  He re-iterated that if the sign was wrong, then only the regular trespassing statute applies (like in Georgia).  He showed us lots of signs and pointed out some very tiny details that made them invalid.  It really seems like they tried hard to make it difficult to comply with the sign law.  He said there are some places with proper signs (Goodwills, I think?), and that there is a guy who specializes in selling proper signs.  Obviously someone who has a vague notion that "signs carry weight" in South Carolina might be intimidated and not carry into a place without proper signage, but they seem to have less worry over there about breaking that particular law.  South Carolina has a bunch of other screwy laws, though.

 

So although repealing the sign law in Tennessee would be ideal, neutering it might be an alternative.

[tnguy]

Tennessee's sign law used to be very specific. Then they slipped in an amendment that allowed the "international" prohibition sign as an alternative so all bets are off.

[1gewehr]

I'd love to see the $10 TICS go away.  We already pay for NICS through our taxes, so the TICS charge is just a revenue source for the state.

 

I'd also like to see the absurdly vague 'with intent to go armed' language be replaced by something simple like 'during the commission of a felony'.

 

It's time to remind those critters up on the hill that it's an election year coming up!  And so far, I'm not particularly impressed with anything they've done lately.

[Guest TNSovereignty]

I understand the distinction between long-term strategy & short-term tactics ... but should we merely nibble away at the edges of the problem, or bring all guns to bear (figure of speech!) on Constitutional carry (i.e. no permitting whatsoever).  It's embarrassing that socialist VT kicks TN's can on this issue, and we have fine states like AK & WY to emulate.  With the understanding that we have to overcome the very real, liberal factions that will fight us on these issues, I think we'd galvanize more energy/support on behalf of a full-throated effort to restore Constitutional carry.  I, for one, can't get overly enthused about watered-down, nibbling-at-the-edge proposals.  As the old beer commercial put it, let's "Go for the Gusto."  

 

I expect some will say I need a dose of political reality ... but I've worked on the inside of national politics, and have seen first-hand how "pragmatism" is what the liberals use to whittle constitutional rights down to socialist size.  

[Pat]

That's my idea. Taking little bites just gives "them" more time to concoct their own damn schemes. We must take our freedoms back as fast as possible, and not fall for the liberal horsecrap called "compromise"... how much they can screw us each time around... we've just got to get the word out to our reps, our senators, all the so-called "important" people.