Tennessee of all places…<\/p>\n
Skrmetti appealing gun law decision<\/a><\/p>\n (The Center Square) \u2013 Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is appealing a ruling by a Gibson County Chancery Court that said two Tennessee gun laws were unconstitutional. Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation and three Tennessee residents sued the state, saying the laws violated their right to bear arms. \u201cIt entirely invalidates two gun laws, even though those laws are constitutional in some situations,\u201d Skrmetti said. \u201cFor example, it\u2019s obviously constitutional to prohibit a 10-year-old from bringing a semiautomatic rifle to a rec league basketball game or a drunk with a shotgun from staggering down Broadway or through Market Square or across Shelby Farms. But the Court\u2019s ruling appears to legalize this in Tennessee.\u201d<\/p>\n The ruling by the Chancery Court is causing confusion, Skrmetti said in the appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 counsel has already advised the public that \u2018the entire law enforcement network in Tennessee [is] on notice\u2019 and \u2018attempts to enforce these two statutes\u2019 by any official \u2018should give rise to claims of federal civil rights violations,’\u201d Skrmetti said. \u201cLaw enforcement is rightly loath to choose between tempting ruinous civil rights lawsuits and carrying out their duty to protect the public. And there is no doubt: because of its refusal to adhere to its own judicial limits, this Court\u2019s order would leave large gaps in the General Assembly\u2019s efforts to protect the public.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Chris Todd, R-Madison County, said he wanted Skrmetti to appeal the decision but not because Todd opposes it. He called the opinion \u201cone of the most thorough, well-reasoned, and well-written decisions we\u2019ve seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. London Lamar, chairwoman of the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus, said she supports the decision to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n \u201cThese long-standing gun safety laws are constitutional and they exist for a reason: to give law enforcement the tools they need to protect the public,\u201d Lamar said. \u201cIf the lower court\u2019s ruling is allowed to stand, it will tie the hands of police officers \u2014 even when they encounter someone with a loaded assault rifle parked outside a children\u2019s park. Officers wouldn\u2019t even be allowed to question that person\u2019s intent until it\u2019s too late. That\u2019s not freedom. That\u2019s a recipe for tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tennessee of all places… Skrmetti appealing gun law decision (The Center Square) \u2013 Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is appealing a ruling by a Gibson County Chancery Court that said two Tennessee gun laws were unconstitutional. The laws prohibited carrying firearms in state parks and carrying a gun or club with the \u201cintent to go … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,11,50,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-crap-for-brains","category-goobermint","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112011,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112009\/revisions\/112011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe laws prohibited carrying firearms in state parks and carrying a gun or club with the \u201cintent to go armed\u201d and use it for violence or aggression.<\/p>\n
\nSkrmetti said his office was asking the chancery court for a stay pending appeal because the court\u2019s ruling was broad and went too far.<\/p>\n