Headline: Man robs victims at gunpoint in Nashville parks
Lede:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –
A convicted felon spent Saturday morning robbing people in Cedar Hill and Shelby Parks in Nashville and Madison.
In 2009, Tennessee made it legal to carry a concealed weapon in any state or local park, unless the local government that controlled the park proactively re-banned it. Something like 97% of state and local parks are legal to carry in now, but Nashville is one of the places that immediately acted to ban carry permit holders from carrying in Metro Nashville Parks.
So–clearly–the reporter, police, and victims all got it wrong. There is NO WAY that a serious criminal would risk a $500 fine-only misdemeanor by committing at least seven 5-year felonies in a park where he knows his victims are unarmed. Then-councilman Sam Coleman told me so!
Chattanooga city (and MAIG mayor), in their infinite wisdom, also banned HCP holders from exercising their 2a rights in parks. We have a nice expanding greenway bicycle/walking network in which I am precluded from appropriately defending myself. This is the Chicago model.