MEMPHIS, Tenn.– Questions began swirling when Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam signed the controversial ‘Guns in Parks’ bill into law a few weeks ago.
One of the biggest questions; how would this apply to busy parks in our area and Memphis in May?
Jim Holt, President and CEO of Memphis in May, said guns were still not allowed at Memphis in May even though it’s at Tom Lee Park.
He released this statement:
“Memphis in May International Festival leases Tom Lee Park from the Riverfront Development Corporation for publicly ticketed events. As a producer of events, we have the right to stipulate rules and guidelines for patrons entering the leased park space to attend our events. We prohibit any type of weapon, including pocketknives and we have other restrictions (food and beverages, chairs, umbrella’s, cameras, selfie sticks, etc.) for patrons that attend our events.”
Memphian Mandy Nix said she could see why someone would carry a gun but said Memphis in May wasn’t the place for it.
“You know you feel more protected when you do, but I can see why certain people wouldn’t want them to be down there,” she explained.
“I agree with it. I mean anybody can hurt anyone at anytime. Drinkin,” said Jeremy Vela.
Vela might be against guns at the festival, but other spots he said he’s okay with them.
“Rest of the parks that’s fine, you got these open parks. Anything can happen,” he explained.
Memphis in May seemed to have found a way to work with the law but what about other places?
Mayor A C Wharton has been critical since the beginning.
“Philosophically it’s easy to pass a law like that but how do you operationalize it?” he asked the day the bill was signed.
Many questions remain how the law will be monitored around schools and other functions with children.
