denial is the first stage

While legislators in Nashville were considering whether or not to allow handgun carry permit holders to carry firearms in local parks, rights-activists, such as myself, were constantly being assaulted with proclamations of how our parks are already safe, and how letting licensed, background-checked, trained individuals carry into those parks will endanger the children, and how no one would ever need to carry a firearm into a park. Many rights-activists pointed out how criminals are already carrying firearms into parks, regardless of what the law might or might not say, but such reminders were largely ignored by the emotionally-driven hoplophobes of Tennessee. Maybe now they will pay attention:

One man is dead and two people are in jail following a Sunday night murder in Cleveland.

It happened just before 10 pm at Mosby Park on Inman Street. When officers got there they found located a Ashton Cart Smith shot in the chest. He was rushed to SkyRidge Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

(Emphasis added.)
A man was shot and killed in a park over the weekend. Oh, and before any halfwit hoplophobe speaks up, the shooter did not have a permit for the gun he used:

[Murder suspect's name], 18, has been charged with 1st Degree Murder and a 16-year-old boy was charged with Facilitation.

(Emphasis added.)
In Tennessee, one must be 21 to have a handgun carry permit. As such, regardless of what Cleveland’s local laws are concerning firearms in parks, the shooter was illegally carrying a firearm in the park, in addition to (probably) illegally shooting someone, and (probably) illegally murdering them. But our parks are safe, right?
But wait, there is more. Less than a week ago, two people were injured by a man with a shotgun in a Knoxville park:

One person has been shot at a city park this afternoon, according to the Knox County E-911 Center.

The incident happened about 3:20 p.m. at Lonsdale Park off Texas Avenue.

The 911 Center got a report that a person with a shotgun was in the park and at least two other people were running, a dispatcher said.

One person was being treated for injuries from a shotgun blast, the dispatcher said.

Regardless of whether or not the still-unidentified shooter had a handgun carry permit, it is illegal to carry a loaded shotgun outside of your own property, hunting, or protecting your livestock from predators, and it is illegal to carry a firearm in any Knoxville city park (even if you have a permit). Furthermore, I would be willing to wager that this particular shooting was not a justified defensive gun use, and as such, discharging the firearm in city limits is illegal, shooting it at a person is illegal, and injuring someone with it is illegal.
But our parks are safe, right? It is only those evil, despicable, inhuman, troublesome, annoying, ungrateful handgun carry permit holders who threaten our children, right?
Funny how rarely the deranged fear-mongering of anti-rights advocates comes true… and funny how often criminals do exactly what we permit holders say they will do: break laws.