Sophocles couldn’t have written this one better.
Boosted by a majority heretofore unseen for his political party, a lawmaker pushes through a controversial law allowing permit holders to carry their weapons into bars.
During debate, the lawmaker and his supporters argue that permit-carriers, being responsible gun owners, trained in the ways of handgun-carrying, would never drink while packing. After all, why can’t they carry their guns into an O’Charley’s, cold steel pressed against their side while they enjoy a delicious yeast roll and lettuce wedge. Just because O’Charley’s has reasonably-priced mango margaritas doesn’t mean the gun owner will be imbibing.
Law passes.
Law passes into the mists of memory.
Fast-forward 18 months.
Lawmaker is pulled over in Nashville, charged with DUI … and, oh yes, being in possession of a handgun while intoxicated.
This definition of irony brought to you by Rep. Curry Todd
Todd, a Collierville Republican, was stopped just after 11 p.m. Tuesday night in his GMC Envoy at 21st and Blair. In the delightfully dry verbiage of a police report, the officer “detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle.”
Todd failed the roadside sobriety test and refused a breathalyzer. Upon search, the police found a loaded Smith & Wesson .38 Special stuffed between his seat and the console.
Todd, a former lobbyist for police organizations, also once sponsored a bill — it didn’t go anywhere — barring alcohol sales after midnight. To his credit, he was seemingly on his way home before the witching hour.
During the futile push for that idea, Todd said “Being on the police department, I know what a bar is. I’ve been in thousands of them, over the years.”
He also mentioned that he knew 40 percent of DUI arrests came after 11 p.m.
Chronicle of an arrest foretold, Rep. Todd?
Todd faces penalties for a first offense DUI — between 48 hours and a year in jail, DUI school, and license revocation — and for unlawful possession of a handgun — a class A misdemeanor that could also result in the revocation of his carry permit for three years.
His homework from the Weekly
Obsession? A re-read of the greatest Greek tragedies.