300winmag

I will be surprised if more than a several hundred public K-12 school employees, besides armed security employees, in the whole state will be carrying handguns a year from now because this bill is so restrictive. The bill is even more restrictive than the public college employee carry law. The employees will have to get permission from a school principal, school superintendent, and police chief. That is basically a may issue or in most places no issue system right there. There are other unnecessary restrictions even after all these hoops are jumped through and someone is approved and trained. The bill is not a very pro gun bill. The politicians could have just legalized K-12 schools and colleges, like Mississippi, for people with an enhanced carry permit but did not.

The bill is basically an extremely restrictive may issue public K 12 school employee carry bill. It is even more restrictive than the public college employee carry law. The K 12 school employees would have to get permission from what looks like the local police chief or maybe a sheriff's department. I would guess most of the populated areas, like Memphis and Nashville, will reject any interested applications to carry at a school. I doubt many public school employees are going to be able to carry under this restrictive law, even if they want to.

Reading the bill text is important. The bill makes some good changes because it removes the weapons crime of the no guns signs in Tennessee. Most states do not have weapons crimes for no guns signs, especially for people with concealed pistol licenses or handgun permits. No gun signs are generally treated as a trespass issue in most other states. The bill does not force private property owners to allow guns on their properties. Private property owners can still ask people to not bring firearms on their properties and can still ask people to leave when found with firearms. People forget that some of the state government offices put up these no gun signs, not just private property, and this bill fixes that problem. If you regularly carry a concealed handgun, I don't know why you would not want this bill to pass. Do we know if the state and national pro gun organizations are getting behind this bill?

You do not always have a choice where you go for daily business, such as a state government owned office. If you have an enhanced carry permit, you should not have to leave a gun in the car where it can be stolen at that state owned location because there is a no gun sign.

In Mississippi, you can legally carry handguns in K-12 schools and colleges with an enhanced MS carry license in addition to not worrying about weapons charges over no gun signs at private or public property. You can also carry in all the courthouses in Mississippi as long as you stay outside the courtrooms with an enhanced MS carry license. I am also pretty sure that if you have an enhanced license and carrying, you cannot be refused entry to MS local/state public property or asked to leave just for concealing a handgun.

How is it harder to get restrictions reduced, such as the sign issue, for the enhanced carry permit than it is get unlicensed handgun carry passed through the legislature?

Most other states don't make it a weapons crime for someone, especially someone with a handgun carry permit, to walk past a 'no gun' sign. Tennessee should at least provide an exception for people with handgun carry permits. No guns signs are treated as a trespass issue in most states. If a property owner sees you with a gun and does not want you there, the property owner must ask you to leave for not following his or her rules. If you do not leave, then that turns into a trespass issue.

The simple solution is just to remove the weapons crime behind no guns signs in Tennessee. Properties can put signs up all they want but the state should not have a weapons crime over a sign. If nothing else, the weapons crime should be removed for people with the enhanced carry permit just like in Mississippi.

You see the signs in the larger cities on private property and taxpayer funded local and state government properties.

The enhanced carry permit needs to actually be enhanced so that you can legally carry in more places. The 'no guns' signs weapons crime should not apply to the enhanced carry permit. That should only be a trespass issue if someone does not leave when asked just as it is in most states. Full college carry should also be legalized for enhanced permits. College employees can already carry with enhanced permits in TN plus most of the states bordering TN already have legal college carry for people with carry permits.

The weapons crime for the no guns signs needs to be removed all together or at least not apply for people with enhanced carry permits. People with enhanced permits should be able to also carry in other locations such as college campuses that are already legal in most states surrounding TN for people with carry permits.

The gun laws used to be even worse in TN for people with carry permits up until about ten years ago. You could not even legally carry inside any decent restaurant because they all sell alcohol. TN is one of the few states that has a mid level misdemeanor weapons offense for people WITH permits for violating a 'no guns' signs. Most of the states surrounding TN also have legal college carry for people with permits. TN does not generally have legal college carry with a permit, unless you are an employee at the college you are carrying at. It is legal to carry in K-12 schools with a permit in a couple of the surrounding states.

There is a not a lot of point in getting a real ID driver license to fly if you already have a passport. Service members do not need one either to fly since military ID qualifies as a real ID for them. A lot of driver license offices can be a pain to deal with and I try to avoid them.

Tennessee is one of the few states that has a class B weapons misdemeanor for certain 'no guns' signs and even fewer states that makes it a misdemeanor weapons crime for people with a permit or enhanced permit to carry past some 'no gun' signs. Most states treat 'no guns' signs as a trespass issue, especially for people with licenses or permits, and not weapons crimes.

After watching this legislative session and even sessions over the past few years, it seems that there are a wide variety of pro gun bills proposed. Few bills proposed seem to actually reduce restrictions for people with enhanced carry permits and give them more practical ability to legally carry in more places to protect themselves. For example, I would try to put forth effort to improve the law for the guy with an enhanced permit to legally carry while taking community college classes at night in a rough part of town VS changing the law for someone who wants to walk down the sidewalk with a loaded shotgun. I am still surprised most states surrounding TN have legal college campus carry with licenses and TN does not. Someone with an enhanced permit can still be criminally charged over a 'no gun' sign, even on some public properties. These issues should have been fixed for the enhanced permits a long time ago, in my opinion.