Tennessee guns, felons, National Parks, and DUI

There are consequences to having a handgun and a DUI at the same time. In Tennessee your Handgun Carry Permit can be suspended for the entire length of your sentence. You may be able to pay reinstatement fees upon the completion of your sentence, HOWEVER, you cannot carry your handgun during your probation period, it is illegal. http://nashvilleduiinfo.com

If you have been found guilty of two DUIs in the last 10 years you will not able to obtain a Handgun Carry Permit in Tennessee. In no case are you permitted to obtain any type of weapon once you become a felon, this is a Federal Law and carries with it a sentence that is served at 100 percent. In Tennessee a Fourth Offense DUI is a class E felony.

So what does a felony really mean to me? I hear this a lot, and my answer is everything. A felony is serious, it carries with it many things, here are just a few: in some countries you are not permitted to enter if you have been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor DUI; you lose your right to vote; you are rendered infamous; you will always have to answer yes to your conviction on any government application; you are prevented from owning a firearm; you may be eligible to have an enhanced sentence should you be convicted of any other felony in your lifetime; you must submit a blood sample to the National DNA Bank as held by the United States Government; it could affect your ability to obtain a mortgage to buy a home; many countries will not permit you to enter if you are a felon, (recently Martha Stewart was denied entry into England based on her being a felon). Being a felon carries with it a lifetime of problems that one must deal with.

Currently in Tennessee you are not permitted to carry a firearm where alcohol is served. There was a bill put before the legislator to permit this, it has not moved very far, and just my thoughts, it will not pass. So remember whether you have a permit or not, YOU cannot carry your weapon into a place that serves alcohol in Tennessee.

In the United States Senate there is currently strong debate on allowing accessible weapons in National Parks, (currently your weapon must not be accessible to you, ie the trunk of your car). I suspect this debate began because of the many attacks and one recent murder of a young female hiker that occurred in the parks over the years. I believe that one should be able to carry their handgun (with a handgun carry permit) in the National Parks. Many of the trails such as the ones in the Smokey Mountains and the Appalachia are extremely secluded, you don't know who you will come into contact with. If you knew that the hiker you were coming into contact with might have an accessible loaded 44 magnum pistol and could blow a hole in you the size of a soccer ball, would you try to rob that person, and or harm them? I really doubt it. Allowing accessible weapons in the National Parks will deter crime, and protect hikers on secluded trails. To the people who would say that everyone would have an accessible gun in the National Parks, if they are right, it would simply even the playing field against the people who intend to do harm against innocent people.