No one had been threatened with arrest
for violating Knoxville's ban on firearms at the Tennessee Valley
Fair, so Second Amendment activists on Tuesday sought out the threat.
And they got it, from the Knoxville Police Department's deputy chief
of patrol, Monty Houk, as they stood outside a gate leading to the
fairgrounds.
Seven members of the Tennessee Firearms Association gathered
outside Gate 8 at East Magnolia Avenue and Beaman Street about 6 p.m.
to obtain a promise of arrest in order to garner standing for a
lawsuit. The group has already filed a lawsuit against a ban on
carrying guns at the fairgrounds but wanted to bolster its case.
"It looks like the judge is going to throw (the lawsuit) out
because no one was thrown out of the fair," said Raymond Bergeron, a
Heiskell man who has fought for years for legislation expanding the
rights of handgun carry permit holders.
Bergeron and his wife, Kimberly, asked Houk specifically what would
happen should the permit holders try to enter the fairgrounds while
armed. Raymond Bergeron, 61, was armed at the time. His wife was not.
Both had their $10 entry tickets in hand.
Both, Houk assured them, would be subject to arrest on a charge of
criminal trespassing should they violate the gun ban. TFA members shot
video of the exchange.
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