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Alcoa City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to opt out of a state law allowing people with carry permits to have guns in city parks.

This mirrored the unanimous action of Maryville City Council last week.

Over half of the almost full Alcoa commission room indicated they were against the ban.

Dr. Joe Birdwell, who lives in Rockford and owns land in Alcoa, said his family uses Springbrook Park and he thinks he should be able to carry a gun for protection.

Birdwell said his father carried a gun and when he turned 22 his father gave him a handgun, telling him he would rather his son had a gun and didn't need it than not have one and need it.

"I've carried one ever since," Birdwell said, asking the Commission to not opt out.

Birdwell is a member of the three-man Rockford City Commission, which is to take up the gun issue at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday in Rockford City Hall.

Michele Neal, who lives on Aberdeen Drive in Alcoa, asked the commission to opt out. Neal said she uses Springbrook Park every day and "I'm not sure there is a crime problem in Alcoa."

She said that when she has seen a possible crime situations, the police handled it very well.

"I do not feel comfortable that there might be citizens around me carrying handguns (in the park)," she said.

Trish Rodriguez, who lives on Glascock Street in Alcoa, took the opposite stand.

She said she has a carry permit and "I like to go to the park and take my 3-year-old. Guns are a good deterrent. They (criminals) don't know I don't have a gun."

She said the criminals won't abide by the law and will have guns in parks, but they know the other law-abiding residents will.

She said going under park bridges with her son in a stroller is a place where they could be attacked. "I'd hate to use it, but to protect my baby, I'd use it," she said.

Stone Carr of Alcoa said he is "concerned about guns in our parks and recreation areas." He questioned why the legislature made guns legal in parks.

"What we're looking for is decency. What we're looking for is right," he said.

Janice Lowe of East Cunningham Street, Alcoa, said it is her constitutional right to have a gun. She said several years ago several women were attacked in the Greenway.

Alcoa Mayor Don Mull said he walks the parks daily and has not seen crime, other than vandalism. He said most people carry cell phones and can call the police if they have a problem.

"Self-defense is a God-given right," said Greg Benson of Maryville. This looks like an infringement to me."

Commissioner Clint Abbott moved and Ken White seconded the motion to opt out of guns in the parks, a resolution which passed the commission unanimously.

After the vote, White said that "to citizens of Alcoa this almost means nothing. Alcoa is a small community with three schools."

By law, guns are not allowed in schools and students have activities in the park, he said. Tennis is played on the Springbrook courts, students walk the trails and football teams practice in the parks.

White said that if guns were allowed in the parks, signs would have to be erected any time students were in the park stating that guns were not allowed.

"This is not a simple thing, That would be an administrative nightmare," he said.

Guns are now banned in both Alcoa and Maryville from public parks, natural areas, historic parks, nature trails, campgrounds, forests, greenways, waterways or other similar public places. Both cities will be installing signs outlawing guns from park entrances.