Concealed Carry Memphis Zoo

[phil1979]

I mean no harm and no offense to those of you who fight hard for your rights in Tennessee. I applaud you for what you have done and give you two thumbs up. I am truly proud of you my Southern brethren!

 

I would never ever do anything that I believe would be harmful to the cause, as I would be affected as well. I love Tennessee and visit as much as I can. I also thoroughly enjoy exercising my 2nd Amendment Rights.

 

For years I carried my pistol concealed only. Even though it was comfortable in one sense, being the somewhat shy person I am, in another sense it did not feel quite right. Why should I be sneaky and have to hide my rights, was my personal feeling on this. For those who desire to only conceal, more power to you, I'm glad you carry in the manner of your choice. There are pluses and minuses for both ways of carry, I suppose, so carry on as you wish.

 

Now that I open carry in public, it feels like true freedom to me, and I enjoy the knowledge that it deters crime, in my opinion. So if I attend a public zoo or any other public place that is ok under state law to carry at, it will be as an open carrier of a holstered pistol. No rifles and no orange paint, LOL. Though I suppose rifle carry is appropriate in some places, but I will not attempt to judge those situations.

 

Public places violating state preemption is a sore spot for me, as I have dealt with it much here in my own state. Should one of you desire to open carry at a public building here that is not off limits, I wouldn't want you to be hassled, ejected, or denied entrance. You would have as much skin in the game as I do, since all states should honor our rights and we should have the enjoyment of traveling back and forth from each other's states.

 

I was able to convince Zoo Atlanta via email that their weapons policy post Georgia's HB 60 was not compliant with state law. They finally emailed me that they changed their policy, and I have openly carried there a few times now. I was only questioned by their security the week before Halloween and gladly showed my weapons license even though I did not have to, and was friendly and polite with them. I then carried on and enjoyed the rest of my visit there.

 

I openly carried at the Chattanooga Zoo Halloween evening with no issues.

 

"Poking the bear" is sometimes needed when local government officials refuse to follow state law. These public officials are often entrenched in their positions and if a little email pressure is too much for them to bear, well just follow state law then! To me, it's that simple.

 

So far none of my work in Georgia (actually, the bulk of the work is done by the good folks with Georgia Carry of which I am a member) has caused us to lose any of our gained ground. But gained ground that is not recognized is hardly victory being enjoyed. We fight to get laws passed, and we fight to get them obeyed. State preemption is something I take seriously, and because of the fight we have gotten illegal signs removed and local ordinances repealed.

 

Should I have the pleasure of visiting the Memphis Zoo, should I change my customary manner of carry just because I might offend officials who no longer have the authority to regulate the carrying of firearms? The people in general certainly don't mind me open carrying. Not a soul in Chattanooga minded that I know of, and Chattanooga was one of those cities that had their firearms ban grandfathered in, and it was in effect for years.

 

Surely, the Tennessee Legislature knew that open carry would be practiced by some carriers when the "Guns in Parks" bill was being debated, but it passed, so it must be ok with them. Are they then going to repeal it just because a Georgia boy sends an email to the Memphis Zoo and maybe open carries there soon? Are things that precarious there? Goodness gravy, I hope not!

[Chucktshoes]

The fact you attributed that quality to me despite me never saying anything of the sort tells me the same.


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I owe you an apology. After rereading the thread once the blood had simmered down a bit I realized that I misread your first post. I now see it was more of a general statement than the specific manner in which I read it. That caused me to conflate yours and Phil's position. While I still stand by my posts and the point I was making in them, I was wrong for directing them at you. I'm sorry for that.

[LagerHead]

I owe you an apology. After rereading the thread once the blood had simmered down a bit I realized that I misread your first post. I now see it was more of a general statement than the specific manner in which I read it. That caused me to conflate yours and Phil's position. While I still stand by my posts and the point I was making in them, I was wrong for directing them at you. I'm sorry for that.

Thanks. No hard feelings. [emoji106]


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