Local opt-outs anger Tenn. gun advocates

NASHVILLE, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Tennessee gun rights groups say they'll push to strip cities and counties of their ability to opt out of a new state law allowing guns in parks.

Local governments in about 70 such jurisdictions, from big cities such as Nashville and Memphis to rural communities such as Watertown, have voted to close their parks to handguns as a new state law allowing such weapons went into effect Tuesday, The (Nashville) Tennessean reported.

That has angered gun rights advocates, who reportedly say they will pressure state legislators to take the matter out of local governments' hands and avoid creating a patchwork quilt of regulations, the newspaper reported.

"(Local governments) have not paid close attention to what the General Assembly's intent was," John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, told The Tennessean.

The new law lets permit holders take their guns into all state parks and also calls for local parks to be opened to the weapons, but in a compromise, allowed local governments to opt out.

Those who oppose allowing guns in parks say the fact that so many communities have opted out shows that the law is far less popular than gun-rights groups may believe, the newspaper reported.