Drizzt
Member
The Tennessean
April 30, 2003 Wednesday 1st Edition
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5B
LENGTH: 313 words
HEADLINE: Rep. West's absence at meeting ends gun bills
BYLINE: ANNE PAINE
BODY:
House subcommittee defers measures until 2004
By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer
A bevy of gun-related bills bit the dust yesterday, but they'll be back.
Nine bills sponsored by state Rep. Ben West that would broaden the state's gun laws came before a House subcommittee yesterday after he had left the meeting.
Committee members waited, sent out emissaries to find him and, when he didn't return, deferred the bills until 2004. West had said he had another committee meeting to attend.
It was the committee's last scheduled meeting for the year, and West had been present to see another bill he sponsored - allowing off-duty police to carry guns into schools and courts - be killed.
The statewide Fraternal Order of Police had proposed the measure, he said.
"Because of the unsettling times, the police across the state have come before us with this," West, D-Nashville, told the House judiciary constitutional protections subcommittee.
Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, said officers two years ago were given the right to carry their weapons while off duty to most places and had agreed to the few limitations.
"I just don't see the need to come back and undo something to which we had all agreed," she said.
Although the National Rifle Association had no position on the bill, the Tennessee Firearms Association opposed it, West said in answer to questions.
Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, who voted against the bill, said it would give an officer the right to take a gun to court when it involved his or her own divorce or child custody dispute.
West's other bills, many of which he has brought to the legislature for several years, include one to allow persons with a handgun carry permit to keep a gun in their car on their employer's property and another to do away with the $10 fee paid to the TBI to conduct back- ground checks of firearms purchasers.
April 30, 2003 Wednesday 1st Edition
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5B
LENGTH: 313 words
HEADLINE: Rep. West's absence at meeting ends gun bills
BYLINE: ANNE PAINE
BODY:
House subcommittee defers measures until 2004
By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer
A bevy of gun-related bills bit the dust yesterday, but they'll be back.
Nine bills sponsored by state Rep. Ben West that would broaden the state's gun laws came before a House subcommittee yesterday after he had left the meeting.
Committee members waited, sent out emissaries to find him and, when he didn't return, deferred the bills until 2004. West had said he had another committee meeting to attend.
It was the committee's last scheduled meeting for the year, and West had been present to see another bill he sponsored - allowing off-duty police to carry guns into schools and courts - be killed.
The statewide Fraternal Order of Police had proposed the measure, he said.
"Because of the unsettling times, the police across the state have come before us with this," West, D-Nashville, told the House judiciary constitutional protections subcommittee.
Rep. Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, said officers two years ago were given the right to carry their weapons while off duty to most places and had agreed to the few limitations.
"I just don't see the need to come back and undo something to which we had all agreed," she said.
Although the National Rifle Association had no position on the bill, the Tennessee Firearms Association opposed it, West said in answer to questions.
Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, who voted against the bill, said it would give an officer the right to take a gun to court when it involved his or her own divorce or child custody dispute.
West's other bills, many of which he has brought to the legislature for several years, include one to allow persons with a handgun carry permit to keep a gun in their car on their employer's property and another to do away with the $10 fee paid to the TBI to conduct back- ground checks of firearms purchasers.
