Sponsor of Tennessee Gun Law Faces DUI, Firearms Charges
The sponsor of a Tennessee law allowing guns in bars has been accused of carrying a loaded .38 caliber revolver in his car while driving drunk.
State Rep. Curry Todd (R-Collierville) was arrested late Tuesday in Nashville, the Associated Press reported, after failing a field sobriety test. A loaded .38 caliber revolver was found in a holster stuffed between the driver’s seat and the center console.
Todd, the chairman of the House State and Local Government Committee, sponsored a 2009 bill allowing people with permits to carry handguns to take their weapons into businesses serving alcohol as long as they don’t drink.
At the time, police and prosecutors spoke out against the measure. But the bill became law after Todd assured fellow lawmakers that people with gun permits would be careful about not violating the ban on drinking while armed.
“The burden is not going to be on the restaurant owner, it’s going to be on the individual, because he’s going to know that he has a chance there if he’s caught to lose his gun permit forever,” he said.
The law Todd sponsored was later thrown out by a judge for being unconstitutionally vague. But state lawmakers addressed those deficiencies in a new version of the bill that became law last year.
Todd, who was released from jail after posting $3,000 bail Wedneday morning, could not be reached for comment. He told police when he was pulled over that he had had two drinks, but he didn’t say where.
