Staff Photo by Allison Kwesell A sign prohibiting firearms is seen at the Tennessee Riverpark. The Hamilton County commission voted to ban firearms in Hamilton County parks on Wednesday.

There still is some confusion among local officials whose municipalities have opted out of Tennessee's new guns-in-parks law about how to punish violators.

Officials said they were unsure if violators would be subject to a city ordinance violation or a state criminal offense.

"That would be my issue as an attorney representing a municipality," said Chattanooga Assistant City Attorney Phil Noblett. "Does the act make it a state law offense or is it simply a municipal violation?"

Under the state law signed June 12 by Gov. Phil Bredesen, handgun permit holders can bring guns into state and local parks unless local governments vote to ban them. The law took effect immediately in state and federal parks, but it will not go into effect in local parks until Sept. 1 to give municipalities time to opt out.

Hamilton County and the cities of Chattanooga and Red Bank already have voted to ban the firearms.

But the bill does not explicitly state how cities can punish those who bring guns into local parks.

"I would assume that whatever the (state) violation was before, now that the cities and the counties can opt out, they would still have that (state) punishment," Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor said. "The fact that the county exempts itself is allowed under state law, and it's still pursuant to state law."

Signs in local parks that say state law prohibits firearms may not need to be changed, he said, because the opt-out clause is routed through the state law.

Under previous law, anyone possessing a firearm in a state or local park was subject to a Class A misdemeanor, with punishments not to exceed a year in jail and a fine of $2,500, as well as a suspension of the handgun permit.

Red Bank City Attorney Arnold Stulce said he understands the law to mean that it's still a state criminal offense to carry firearms in parks whose local governments have opted out of the law.

"So the city doesn't criminalize it," he said. "It just remains a state criminal offense. But this is sort of a work-in-progress for everybody. And there's some details that aren't ironed out as of yet."

State Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said penalties do not change for those who bring guns into local parks where they are not allowed.

"If a permitted person violated that, then they would be subject to the same provisions that are in the law now," he said.