Apparently, the city council does
A poll at the local rag: Do you favor banning guns in Maryville city parks?
As I’ve said before, I’m actually glad various localities have opted out of the park carry business. One, you know who your allies are and, two, this law will probably be revised and preempted next session.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
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‘Gun’ in courthouse scare found as evacuation delay raises concern
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department
The image that sparked the concern at the courthouse was of a cigarette lighter in the shape of a firearm.
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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune
Published: August 5, 2009
Updated: 06:44 pm
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Delay raises questions
TAMPA – The specter of an armed person roaming the Hillsborough County Courthouse prompted the evacuation of two buildings – but it took three hours for authorities to start ordering the 3,200 people inside to get out.
And when authorities finally tracked down the purported weapon that caused the scare, they discovered a cigarette lighter that looks like a gun.
Still unanswered is why an incident that happened before 9 a.m. today wasn’t reported to the sheriff’s office until just before noon.
“Obviously, we are concerned,” said Carl Harness, the county’s public safety administrator. “It is kind of hard to deal with an unknown entity until you get all the facts.
“I still need to see my information from my investigators, from the security services department, on what occurred and time line of events,” said Harness, who oversees the 81 security officers charged with protecting county buildings.
The sheriff’s office also is probing the security breach at the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse downtown.
“My understanding is that there was a significant delay before they notified our court security bureau,” said an obviously upset sheriff’s Col. Jim Previtera.
“Frustrated is an understatement,” Previtera said. “I was angry and I didn’t want to hear anything else. I wanted action and I wanted it to be taken care of.”
Authorities initially said a semiautomatic gun was detected on an X-ray screening machine at the main entrance of the Edgecomb courthouse, 800 E. Twiggs St., but that the bag containing the weapon was removed and the person entered the courthouse.
“When the security guys looking at the X-ray machines saw the gun, by that time, the person was already in there,” sheriff’s spokesman Larry McKinnon said.
The Edgecomb building and the courthouse annex across the street were evacuated, with more than 3,000 people ordered to leave.
More than two dozen law enforcement officers searched the buildings, looking in closets and under desks. As each area was secured, employees were allowed to return.
The evacuation lasted less than two hours.
By the end of the day, investigators had pieced together this version of what happened:
A woman was at the courthouse this morning for a court hearing and went through the normal security procedures with a gun-shaped cigarette lighter.
She attended the hearing and then left before the evacuation, unaware the lighter was raising such a furor. Sometime this afternoon, a Tampa police officer recognized her from a security video, and authorities contacted her.
The woman told investigators the lighter had belonged to her nephew, but she had taken it from him because it looked so menacing