NRA meeting will put Nashville in big league

2015 convention could bring 50,000 visitors, $25 million

Landing the National Rifle Association's May 2015 convention, a mega-gathering known for bringing big political names, big guns and big bucks to host cities, could help push Nashville further into the limelight as a go-to convention city, tourism officials say.

"Having the NRA (in) Nashville is fabulous," said John Harris, a Nashville lawyer who is founder and executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association. "They bring a lot of people and will bring a lot of attention."

On Thursday, Mayor Karl Dean announced that Nashville has landed the high-profile convention that's expected to attract at least 50,000 visitors and perhaps spark as much as $25 million in spending over three days.

The event is still a few years off, but tourism officials hope the NRA's decision to hold its 144th annual convention here pays dividends by attracting other major groups to take a longer look at Music City.

"We're coming out of a difficult economy and the flood and now there's pent-up demand for the hospitality industry," said Tom Negri, general manager of the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.

"Having that large of a group means so much for the city. And association business like this tends to follows one another."

"We've earned this," said Butch Spyridon, president of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, which courted the NRA for two years to land the 2015 event.

NRA convention-goers will meet at the still-under-construction Music City Center, Nashville's new convention hall being built south of Broadway. It's due to open two years before the NRA meeting dates arrive.

The city is still negotiating with the NRA to be among four or five cities that could rotate as hosts of the politically charged group's annual meetings for several years.

The NRA has announced that its 2011, 2012 and 2013 annual meetings will be held in Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Houston, respectively. The group met in Charlotte, N.C., this year and in Phoenix in 2009.

By: Anita Wadhwani and Chambers Williams, The Tennessean

Firearm review revives gun debate

Gun Control advocates are opposing any attempt to change Tasmania's firearm laws.

The state government is reviewing the 1996 Firearms Act, which was introduced after the Port Arthur massacre.

The proposed amendments include removing the limit on the number of firearms for collectors and downgrading the classification of pump action shotguns.

Roland Browne from the Gun Control Coalition says it would be ludicrous to give pump action shotguns the status of a standard .22 rifle.

"I can't see any good reason for this. It's like pushing alcohol and tobacco on kids," he said.

The discussion paper also proposes lowering the age limit for recreational shooters to 12.

"This proposal gets flagged every couple of years and it needs to be put to bed forever," said Mr Browne. "It's a bad proposal, we shouldn't be having kids with guns."

Rob Blake from the Field and Game Association says the age change would be good for country children.

"They're allowed at 12 in the club situation, I don't see any difference between that and in the bush."

Public comment is being taken until December 23.

By: ABC News

Portland Council holds hearing on Mayor Sam Adam's proposed gun control laws

Mayor Sam Adams presents to council proposed new gun control ordinances aimed at reducing gang violence.

Supporters of Portland Mayor Sam Adam's proposed gun control laws Thursday called them a needed tool for law enforcement to crack down on gang-related shootings, while critics voiced concerns about their constitutionality, and potential for unfairly targeting young blacks.

Three proposed ordinances would hold adults responsible if their gun gets into a child's hands, penalize gun owners who don't report the theft or loss of a firearm, and designate shooting hot spots and allow the city to exclude certain gun offenders from them.

Two other code changes would set a 7 p.m. curfew for juveniles who have been convicted of a gun offense such as possessing or illegally using a firearm, and would enact a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days in jail for a gun offender found carrying a loaded gun in a public place, including a vehicle or on transit.

The council, where the mayor appears to have majority support, will vote on the measures Dec. 1.

Portland police said gang violence response team call-outs are up 20 percent this year, with 80 recorded so far, compared to a total of 68 in each of the last two calendar years.

Police Chief Mike Reese called it "disheartening" to see gang violence increase after the community made significant strides to curb the daily drive-by shootings that he confronted as a patrol officer in the mid- to late-1980s. Gang Enforcement Team Lt. Dave Hendrie said the stiffer juvenile curfew ordinance, which would affect 20 to 30 youth on probation for gun offenses, and the proposed illegal firearms exclusion zones would allow officers to remove people with a violent past from potentially hostile situations.

Multnomah County gang prosecutor Pat Callahan, County Commissioner Judy Shiprack, state Sen. Ginny Burdick, and Ceasefire Oregon officials spoke in favor of the laws.

"It is time to hold gun owners responsible for keeping their guns away from children, said Elise Gautier, who sits on Ceasefire Oregon's board of directors."How many other young men and children are going to be shot to death before we say this has got to stop?"

Yet gun rights advocates questioned their constitutionality. Ross Eliot, editor and publisher of American Gun Culture Report, said the city is ignoring more serious issues when crime has dipped to the lowest level in decades.

Members of the African American community, civil rights advocates and other community members voiced concerns that curfews and hot spot exclusion zones would unfairly target young blacks and simply shift the problems to other parts of the city.

Some argued that the proposals don't address the root causes of the violence, such as a lack of jobs, schooling and social support services for those with fractured families who turn to violence.

Terresa Raiford, whose nephew Andre Payton was fatally shot Sept. 26 in a gang shootout in Old Town, said the proposals failed to go after gun traffickers and won't keep gang members from getting guns outside of the city limits. Garvin Franklin Jr., a former Crip gang member who is working with other former gang members as part of a group called Brothers Reaching Out, or BRO, said he fears that the ordinances will penalize young black males.

"Young people who are not involved in gangs will be targeted," Franklin said.

Adams responded, saying the city is precluded from regulating the sale of guns. He said he has deep concerns about racial profiling, and that's why he will have an oversight committee monitor police action and report to council every six months.

Kevin Starrett, executive director of Oregon Firearms Federation, has argued that the measures violate a state law enacted in 1995 that says cities can't have ordinances to regulate or prohibit the sale, ownership or other uses of firearms or components such as ammunition.

But Dave Woboril, deputy city attorney, told the council that the state's pre-emption law doesn't restrict the city's measures. He argued that the mayor's proposals don't regulate storage or ownership.

"It is not the universe of everything that has to do with firearms," Woboril said, of the state's pre-emption law.

The ACLU of Oregon, in a letter to the mayor, argued that any exclusions as a condition of someone's probation or parole should be handled by the courts not the city or police. This way, the person facing the exclusion would be represented by an attorney.

By: Maxine Bernstein, Oregon Live