Was this something you did yourself?
Yes, it was. I have three year old son, and given that I am 47, I like to take him to parks to let him run off some of his boundless toddler energy. When I saw the sign, we left, and I took him to Big Oak Park instead. When we returned home, I started looking into to the prohibition, and fairly quickly it became apparent that Smyrna didn't have the statutory authority to enforce the ban. The mayor passed my inquiry off to the police chief, and they made several attempts to find other statutory authority, which would override Title 22, Section 111(a). For instance, Title 11, Section 1457. However, none of the statutes they were offering gave them any legal authority, whatsoever, to regulate possession of firearms.
Eventually, I tired of the back and forth shuffle and requested a meeting with the Chief of Police, the Mayor, and the town attorney, so we could go over the statutes, as I was certain that they lacked the statutory authority to regulate possession of firearms, anywhere in the town, including the Municipal Park. The mayor agreed to set a meeting up, but two days later, I received an e-mail from the Chief of Police, with an attached photograph of the modified signs. The e-mail basically stated that while they did not agree with all my assertions, the signs were modified, and as this was what I was requesting initially, would I consider the matter closed?
I should note, that fairly early on, the Chief of Police agreed that anyone having a CCDW would be legal in the park and provided written confirmation of such, in an email to me, but, he still insisted that the signs would remain posted. I disagreed for several reasons, not the least of which, was that it was not legal. I tried to explain that by having the prohibition posted, persons that were legal to carry, were being actively discouraged and inconvenienced in exercising their rights. Additionally, I explained that given the posted rules, were my firearm to print, or inadvertently become momentarily exposed, all the "moms demand action" types would justifiably think that I was carrying illegally within the park. I tried to convey how serious an issue it would be, were an officer responding to a MWAG call, to handcuff me, separate me from my three year old son, and potentially illegally arrest me.
I'm guessing that once the Mayor and Police Chief actually bothered to bring the matter up with the town attorney, that it quickly became apparent to them that there was no point continuing the attempts to keep the signs posted. I'm just happy that it could be resolved relatively quickly, and without requiring expending resources on an attorney. While the Mayor and the Chief of Police were obstinate in insisting that the prohibition would remain posted, they were friendly, responded quickly to all communications, and overall, tried to be reasonable in their assertions of what they thought they had the authority to do. Now, the town manager and my particular town councilperson were another story entirely. Let's just say I know who I won't be voting for when my councilperson's next election comes up.