300winmag

It looks like this bill has now been considerably watered down and does not apply to buildings that house police agencies, hospitals, court house buildings, and libraries. It also appears that the bill just applies to locally owned buildings and not state owned buildings. So, a city or county can still make it illegal to carry at your local airport terminal (most house police agencies) and your local library. The state of Tennessee can also still post 'no guns' signs for all the state owned buildings. This will all still fall under the 'no gun' sign misdemeanor. The bill also automatically makes it illegal (sign or no sign) in the whole building where a court proceeding takes place. Presently it is illegal to carry in a room where there is court. That will be a felony charge. After reading more of the revised bill, it does not fix much with the carve outs made for all state owned buildings, buildings that have a LEO agency (Nashville and Memphis airports both have their own police force), medical facilities, courthouses, and even libraries.

I saw that both the house and senate bill 0508/0445 made it through a house and senate committee today. Hopefully that is good news.

Prison guards that receive the card from the TN Secretary of State can carry handguns anywhere that off duty police officers can carry, which is pretty much everywhere. It is in 39-17-1350.

Your daughter will need to contact the county sheriff's office where she will be living for school to find out if she is able to get a pistol license in that county. She may be able to get one with an apartment lease. The licenses are issued by the sheriffs depts there. Some will run a background check on you and then give you a license on the spot. Others may take longer. Either way the licenses are much easier to get than in TN because you don't have to take a class. There may not be an advantage to having an AL license there since the TN permit is honored and she won't officially change voting and DL from TN. She should be legal carrying at her college though if she wanted to carry with either state's license. From what I understand it is still legal to carry at K-12 schools too with a license.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20170314/arkansas-enhanced-carry-permit-legislation-headed-to-house-floor-for-concurrence I looked today and this NRA supported bill did pass the Arkansas House floor and is being sent to the governor to sign and become law. The governor has supported this bill. The bill will legalize public college carry in Arkansas with an enhanced license. The bill also legalizes carry in the state Capitol and other state owned buildings. A person with the enhanced license will also be able to carry at the college sporting events from what I've read. Basically you take an extra training class and then receive an endorsement on your license. From my understanding, the NRA worked with the legislators and governor to make this happen. So that leaves Georgia and North Carolina as far as states that border Tennessee that college carry is not legal. It will now be legal to carry on college campuses in the following states that border TN: Arkansas (fall 2017), Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Where is the NRA in Tennessee as far as getting something like this through? It is tough to get a decent bill when just Moms Demand Action reps show up to a bill hearing at the legislature and the NRA is not there to speak.

Yeah it is pretty pathetic at a committee hearing when the only positive comments on a pro gun bill are coming from the bill sponsor. No wonder why pro gun bills have such difficulty getting through our legislature. Odds stacked heavily against anything pro gun. After glancing at the bill it looks like whoever wrote it is taking the long complicated way instead of what could be accomplished in a couple sentences by just decriminalizing these silly no gun signs. The park carry and college faculty carry bills were similar messes. I'm guessing the NRA feels like they are pretty safe in TN donations wise and don't want to spend the time or money on influencing these committees to bring pro gun bills to floor votes. The NRA better wise up because groups like Bloomberg's can cause potential problems because that group at least showed up to the meeting and the politicians heard their viewpoint. When mom's against guns starts donating major money to committee chairs' political campaigns, lt governor, and house speaker, we're going to have problems.

It looks like Bloomberg's group is at the House subcommittee meeting and spoke but a representative from the NRA has not spoken about this bill. Where is the NRA?

I think out of all the cities of size in Tennessee I would look around Chattanooga. They've got everything you need right there, you are easy driving distance to Nashville or Atlanta. A lot less people in Chattanooga than Nashville. If you don't mind the growth, the Nashville area is pretty nice too. I get the impression though that the roads in the Nashville area have not kept up with the population growth. I have heard that the Nashville Metro school district is about as bad as the Memphis school district. The towns outside Davidson County from what I understand have pretty good school systems compared to Nashville Metro. I don't know anything about Chattanooga area's schools.

Yeah the real problem we had in the past was the democratic house speaker flat out would not let anything pro gun go to a floor vote in the state house. He seemed worse at that than the present house speaker and she is pretty lukewarm to gun rights. From what I understand the democratic house speaker was the reason that it took so long to legalize carry in places that serve alcohol. I don't get the impression that Haslam is much different than Bredesen when it comes to gun rights. Neither particularly care. It is a shame that this state has been issuing permits a lot longer than states like Missouri and Kansas but has not made near the improvements as those states. I can remember not more than 10 or 15 years ago and you could not conceal a handgun in Missouri and Kansas and there was no sort of licensing system to conceal. Open carry was sort of legal in both states. Now they have concealed carry without a license and of course still open carry. If you have a license you are legal pretty much anywhere when you conceal including schools and colleges.

Why anyone would want to open carry in this state with these type of stupid laws is beyond me. All it takes is to be open carrying at say a fast food restaurant and a 'concerned' mother with a school group calls the police on the person open carrying. To me unless you are out in the woods, you at risk for problems when other people in public can see your firearm. Open carry and concealed carry without a permit would be nice, but we've got to fix these type of legal traps so that good people don't get messed up when they are carrying. It would be nice if our NRA endorsed republican legislators and republican governor would be willing to make life a little easier for good people by removing these legal traps.

Hopefully the state rep is able to make this bill turn into something good because it looks like our lite Democrat governor's office is doing everything possible with pretty substantial fiscal notes in order to kill pro gun legislation. All the other 'no gun' sign reform bills have huge made up financial costs associated with them, including HB 0508 that has probably 25-30 co sponsors.

It looks like HB 0363 already has a fiscal note attached to it. The bill basically makes 'no gun signs' void on local and state govt property, including public schools. Another solid bill HB0884 basically legalizes carry for handgun carry permits everywhere except courtrooms during court. These clowns in TN state government claim that if the bill became law that the state could lose millions of dollars in federal funding, which is a lie. Someone should point out that states where carry on school property is legal that those states do not lose federal funding. NRA and TFA need to just modify that bill or HB 0508 (seems to be sponsored by thirty some odd politicians) and just delete out the criminal weapons penalty of 39-17-1359. Easy fix to something that should just be removed from the weapons code. I won't be surprised if the NRA sponsored HB 0508 gets a fiscal note too in order to stall it or kill it. The NRA needs to wise up and figure out how to get pro gun laws through this legislature with these sort of games.

The problem with Tennessee is that you cannot (without buying a permit) openly or conceal carry any sort of firearm outside of certain exceptions like vehicle or home. It can probably be said in most states that requiring folks to buy a permit to CONCEAL still allows people to bear arms because they can openly carry for free.

You could use a 22LR on a coyote if you have one in a trap but I would not use a 22 to kill one at any distance. A 22 is for small animals like rabbits and squirrels. Use some sort of centerfire rifle if you have a centerfire available.

Generally, the minimum age to possess a handgun in Tennessee without parental permission is 18. Someone under 18 can possess a long gun without parental permission. The way I understand if you can possess a firearm, you can have it loaded in your vehicle. It looks like according to law below, you would need to be 18 to have a handgun loaded in a vehicle. Would seem to be legal for under 18 to have a loaded long gun in a vehicle. 39-17-1319. Handgun possession prohibited -- Exceptions. (2) "Juvenile" means any person less than eighteen (18) years of age.(b) Except as provided in this section, it is an offense for a juvenile to knowingly possess a handgun. (d) (1) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the juvenile is: (A) In attendance at a hunter's safety course or a firearms safety course; (B) Engaging in practice in the use of a firearm or target shooting at an established range authorized by the governing body of the jurisdiction in which such range is located or any other area where the discharge of a firearm is not prohibited; (C) Engaging in an organized competition involving the use of a firearm, or participating in or practicing for a performance by an organized group which is exempt from federal income taxation under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3)), as amended, and which uses firearms as part of the performance; (D) Hunting or trapping pursuant to a valid license issued to the juvenile pursuant to title 70; (E) Accompanied by the juvenile's parent or guardian and is being instructed by the adult or guardian in the use of the handgun possessed by the juvenile; (F) On real property which is under the control of an adult and has the permission of that adult and the juvenile's parent or legal guardian to possess a handgun; (G) Traveling to or from any activity described in subdivision (d)(1) with an unloaded gun; or (H) At the juvenile's residence and with the permission of the juvenile's parent or legal guardian, possesses a handgun and is justified in using physical force or deadly force.

Our politicians sure like to give good folks who carry legal traps that can cost good folks a chunk of money. It's true that not many people have been criminally charged under the 'no guns' signs. It was also true that not many permit holders were charged with carrying in a place that sold alcohol when that was illegal. I'd guess few have been criminally charged for carrying on school property when there are probably some that do illegally carry at schools and colleges. The fact is that you are at the mercy of the responding officer if your gun is exposed in one of these legal trap locations and someone calls the police. I'm sure there are some police that would tell you to put the gun in the car, but there are a few that would cite/arrest you and that is when you will be spending a good chunk of money on legal and court fees getting the problem fixed. I personally do not like the idea of having to get a permit to exercise a right, but I think it is an absolute insult to good people for the state to make them buy a permit to carry and then still have to worry about weapons charges if they carry the gun in certain locations outside their vehicles. If the state believes people who have these permits are so unsafe, then why did the state give the permits out in the first place?

Do you think this other HB 0508 has a chance? I know it just nullifies 'no gun' signs on local and state property but doesn't affect anything else. It looks like that one is about the only gun bill with quite a few sponsors.

This bill now has a companion bill in the Senate. It is SB 0653.

This bill by Rep Goins extends the date from Jan 1 2018 to July 1 2018 for properties to redo 'no guns' signs that can get folks fined for carrying past the sign. If any of you are represented by Rep Goins, contact him and see if he can add a line in the bill that removes the weapons crime from 39-17-1359. That would serve a much better purpose than extending a date for compliant no guns signs. The rep is also sponsoring a bill to de regulate suppressors in TN, so surely he would be open to making it easier for folks to carry.

This bill will basically make 39-17-1359 no gun postings NOT apply at local and state government properties as long as you do not walk past through public entrances with armed guards and metal detectors. So you will be legal carrying at your local airport (of course not past TSA), city library, local and state government buildings, etc that in many cases are posted right now in Memphis and Nashville. Recreational facilities are of course still legal under the parks law and not changed by this bill. The bill does not legalize carrying at public schools or public colleges like HB 0363. This bill is not as good as HB 0363, but it is a big improvement over what we have now. The bill has been presented in both the house and state senate. It also has quite a few co sponsors, so I'm guessing this bill is the one that might have a change if it doesn't get killed with finance notes.

It is insane that the very issuing department, TN DOS, of these permits bans legal carry in a lot of their buildings. State of TN wants your money for a permit but doesn't want you to carry. That was the impression I had especially ten or so years ago when you had to have a permit to keep a handgun in your car but couldn't carry in any decent restaurant, park, and of course the govt owned buildings. Even now, you see the fit some of the politicians throw when some politicians try to let handgun carry folks carry legally in the statehouse. Didn't one bring a rifle to the statehouse last year? He was safe enough to bring his rifle for display on 'weak gun laws' but someone with a permit is unsafe to carry there. I do think if this bill gains any traction, the bedwetter politicians made up of lite Democrat RINO's and democrats, will do everything possible to keep this from reaching floor vote. They'll attach a fiscal note claiming the bill will increase costs because all these local and state offices will have to post armed guards and metal detectors to stop legal folks with permits from carrying. At the same time they'll fail to recognize how stupid they are that anyone who has wanted to carry in 'their' buildings has been carrying for a long time and sometimes without a permit.

Yeah at first I thought the bill applied to all property but after reading it through a couple times it applies to publicly owned local and state government property, which still is a big help for legal carry. If this bill became law, you'd be legal at public colleges, the airport (of course not beyond the TSA checkpoints), local/state govt offices. You just have to keep your handgun concealed and not walk past entrances that have screening and armed guards.

The way I read this bill it does not have anything to do with private property and the ability of them to stick up the 500 dollar fine signs. We still need a good bill to fix that problem but this bill does not change that. I would however be glad if this bill became law because a lot of the local and state govt property in Memphis and Nashville are posted with no gun signs that can get you a misdemeanor. Also it is illegal, potential felony, to carry at all public schools and colleges.

I don't see why the business organizations would oppose this bill because it just affects local and state government owned property and from what I've read you MUST conceal your handgun to fall under this safe harbor. It just removes a the ability to charge handgun carry permit people with weapons charges.

Yes it would have been much smarter to spend the time giving handgun carry permits an exemption on school property just like the exemption that licensed armed guards have rather than messing with these employer related parking lot laws. From my understanding, folks in TN who used to have those sheriff cards could carry at schools, so why not carry that over to the state permit system.