Thompson Station, TN Officials Thumb Nose at 2nd Amendment and US Supreme Court
Contact: Parks and Rec Board and: Board of Mayor and Alderman
The small middle Tennessee town of Thompson Station is facing backlash due to its ongoing refusal to update signs in public parks.
Currently two or more signs clearly read “d. Weapons” under the words “STRICTLY PROHIBITED:”
Yet it is widely known that the 2nd Amendment protects the right of the people to own and carry weapons to ensure their freedom from tyrannical government and to provide for their self-defense against other criminal predators as well. This right extends to everyone in all of the states, as McDonald v Chicago clarified that this right is, indeed, incorporated against the states.
After the Heller, McDonald, and now the most recent Bruen US Supreme Court decisions, the new textual, historical, and traditional test must be applied to gun laws. When a law is challenged, the government must provide a textual, historical, and traditional basis for the gun law at the time of the penning of the 2nd Amendment (1790-1791). “Interest balancing” such as saying public interest is served by restricting rights is not allowed.
The Second Amendment is not a second-class right. An official governmental sign stating [all] weapons are strictly prohibited is the exact equivalent of stating all 1st Amendment activity is prohibited. The sign might as well say “Prayer” or “Journalism” or “Political Speech” under “Strictly Prohibited:” The legal description of official intimidation and official effort to dissuade exercising a constitutional right is called the “chilling effect.” Just as it sounds, it is official misconduct with the result – usually intentional – of reducing/dissuading constitutionally-protected activities.
When asked about these signs, Thompson Station Town Planner Micah Wood deferred to town attorney Andrew E. Mills who appears to work for Reynolds, Potter, Ragan & Vandivort, PLC out of Dickson, TN and comes up as a personal injury attorney on Google. I spoke to Andrew Mills on the phone on October 11th about this issue. When I mentioned to Mr. Mills that people, including women, who are out in the woods in parks need to protect themselves from animals and violent criminals, he responded, “These are good arguments, but we are not permitted to violate state law.” However, no such state law exists that requires signs stating weapons are strictly prohibited in parks.
Yet another analogue to exercising the 2nd Amendment in public is filming in public. The ACLU has a good informational page on filming in public places here: https://www.acludc.org/en/know-your-rights/if-stopped-photographing-public
Could Thompson Station decree there is strictly no photography or filming in its parks or public areas or buildings? Legally it could not, as this would be chilling these rights. Cities all over the “land of the free” have been shown to do just this, however. Why government officials in the US are afraid of the 1st and 2nd Amendment is another issue, but one can make some easy assumptions. Will these signs face challenges in court and have repercussion for those who post them? Or do we have to investigate, petition, and document when officials refuse to remove chilling signs? Hopefully good lawsuits will begin to hold those who post chilling signs accountable.
I mentioned to town attorney Andrew Mills that we (iCarry.org members) were preparing to file suit. I also mentioned that this is not what we want to do – that indeed we would have done it already if so – that we really just want the matter resolved and that language removed from the signs. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay legal fees without good reason. Common sense tells us that signs prohibiting weapons never prevent crime but in fact encourage it in those areas. This is not exactly a good reason to waste taxpayer money. Government signs should not discourage constitutional rights ever. Mr. Mills did say we can file suit if we feel we need to. We wonder if he would be profiting from attorney fees from such a suit. We also wonder if attorney fees were charged for our approximately 12-minute phone call, and how much those are.
One of the planks of ESG – the “Economic, Social, and Governance” initiative of investment companies and credit rating companies – is gun control. Companies that manufacture and distribute arms face difficulties in business because of this, in addition to the difficulties they face when someone misuses their products – which is unique to the firearms industry. Government agencies and other businesses face pressure due to credit ratings and rates on things such as insurance. Is Thompson Station wanting to chill the 2nd Amendment due to insurance reasons? Andrew Mills stated “state law,” but did he really mean insurance provisions?
If it is not ESG related, then it is political? Do the above-mentioned Thompson Station officials and/or other officials in the town have disdain or contempt for the 2nd Amendment? Have they decided they will take intentional measures to scare people out of exercising it in hopes to erode rights over time? These signs are very socialist – they represent the idea that one cannot provide for one’s own needs, but must relinquish rights for the “greater good” and rely upon the state for individual needs.
These signs in Thompson Station parks also encourage citizens to call the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office to report on other citizens who they see exercising the 2nd Amendment. Is this not socialism/communism at its finest? What would brave men and women veterans and those who died overseas and on American soil in war think of this. Since we can’t ask those who gave their lives for the US Constitution and basic, fundamental freedoms, we will have to ask the living veterans.
We hope to find out more answers about this issue by continuing to investigate the who and why of a small town in Tennessee trying to ban the 2nd Amendment.
Update: 2/6/24
We attended a town meeting for the Parks Department. They were aware of the issue and had already been secretly making moves to change their signage. No one contacted me, Shaun Kranish, despite all of the emails and phone calls I had made.
Socialism just couldn’t be left to die as it deserves. The town voted to change “Weapons” under “Prohibited:” to “Weapons (except as permitted per Tennessee Code Annotated §39-17-1311)”
Continuing to thumb their noses at the 2nd Amendment, its true meaning, the idea of personal responsibility and freedom, and common sense, the town voting to keep language on the sign only serves to make ignorant people “feel good” at the expense of the very idea of freedom. They chose to post an illegal lie in black and white. The lie is that someone else will protect you – they will not. The lie is that someone else is responsible for you – they are not. The lie is that criminals obey silly signs – they do not. The lie is that socialism works – it does not. Life is freedom and responsibility. Giving it up is giving up life itself.
