300winmag

We would be crazy not to get behind a solid bill like this that will open up quite a few places for legal carry. Yeah it's not constitutional carry and it's not open carry, but a lot of people would be able to benefit from this bill if it became law, especially people who frequent public college campuses.

At least your friend cannot get a weapons charge if she has a permit and leaves the gun in the car at the school. It could be worse like it was a few years ago when you couldn't do that without risking problems. What is legal and what is policy are two different things.

Absolutely this is a great bill. No it is not perfect because our permits should be enough proof that we are good folks and can carry in secure areas. But in the real world that will never happen. If this is the path to legalize carry in pretty much 90% of public owned buildings, including colleges, then this will work very well to accomplish that. It still gives the government agency the ability to ask people to leave if someone is found to be carrying. Again not perfect but I honestly think if you don't give the agency that ability to trespass people, NOTHING will get through the committee system. Basically if you conceal, keep your mouth shut, then you will be legal as long as you don't walk into a secure area like the statehouse. I like that and am glad someone in Nashville thinks the same way and wrote a bill. I hope this bill flies under the radar kind of like how the car carry bill passed without much media attention.

Technically New Jersey does offer a non resident permit but no way will any normal person get one. California and New York pretty much do not offer non resident permits so in a way those states are offering something to residents that no non resident can obtain.

The way I understand it a weapons charge would only apply somewhere like the statehouse or some of the Memphis city government buildings that run metal detectors at the entrances and you walk past those metal detectors. Right now you are subject to weapons charges in any posted location OR public school property. There aren't secure entrances to every building at Univ of Tennessee or Univ of Memphis, so if this bill became law you would be legal carrying in the unsecure buildings. Most public owned facilities are not going to go to the expense of putting armed guards and metal detectors at the entrance of every building that they own. I still think it is a lot better than what we have now where we are illegal on all college property and risk a felony charge for carrying outside our car. A more obvious college carry bill probably will not get through the legislature.

Why would this not be a good bill? Basically you are legal at any local or state government building or property, including public colleges, as long as it is not a secure facility, like the statehouse. It is our way to get public college carry in this state. It's a whole lot better than what we have now and I'd gladly take it. It's much better for the Univ of TN police to ask you to take your gun back to the car if they catch you carrying VS the present situation of putting you in handcuffs and getting a felony charge for intent to go armed on school property.

This is a great bill that is basically legalizes carry with a handgun carry permit in any location that does not have armed guards at the entrances. We need the NRA, TFA, and other gun orgs to get behind this bill. It would greatly increase the locations where we would be legal carrying a handgun. The bill does not have a senate sponsor but hopefully with enough support there can be a senate sponsor and work to move this through the committees and to floor votes. The bill expands on the safe commute law accomplished a couple of years ago which basically now keeps you from having a weapons charge for having a gun in your car in any location if you have a carry permit. IF this bill became law as written you would not have to worry about criminal prosecution in any location, unless that location has armed guards at the entrances. You can still be asked to leave a location, and trespass laws still apply, but you do not have to worry about felony (school carry) or misdemeanor (other locations) weapons charges.

About the only way a teacher can legally carry at a public K-12 school in this state is by being a reserve police officer. I doubt many public schools use contract guard companies or have in house armed guards that are not police. I believe there was one public school district granted an exception by legislature last year for the district to allow by policy staff with permits to carry. Can't remember where but it is a rural school district. Private K-12 schools in TN can allow carry by people with handgun carry permits. Of course they can also have their own in house armed guards or hire contract. It is legal in TN for licensed armed guards to carry at public and private schools while they are working.

Considering what it costs here to get a permit with all the training class fees, we should be getting more value for our permit than what we presently get.

The school carry law in this state is a joke. We have to go through a training course, range qualification, and wait a month for a permit and cannot carry outside our vehicles on school property. The permit should just be called a 'car gun permit' because that literally is what it is on school property. People in Alabama can buy pistol licenses on the spot in some counties and legally carry at their local school or college. No training no hassle, just pay a small fee and you are legal to carry down there pretty much everywhere.

Yeah a civil court agreement with one individual is different than a criminal court case. I don't see any criminal court case that would over turn my understanding that carry in all rec property (except for school event) is legal. The law does not exclude fairs, music events, or buildings in the park from legal carry. I believe it mentions that carry is legal 'in or on park or similar property' which to me would mean that if a fair, building, or musical event is in the park property, then you can carry without fear of criminal prosecution.

Good job NRA for keeping the legal mines going for folks with permits in this state. No wonder we are legal in XYZ location, maybe or maybe not in another spot, and illegal in yet another AFTER paying good money for a permit. They do a good job at the national level but the lobbying effort NRA does in this state does not seem to be very effective. Do the folks who run the park use metal detectors on people at this park or shake people down? I would assume that would be unconstitutional search so I would still carry because the law is quite clear by plain reading. The park law makes people legal when carrying unless at a school event. The fair is not a school event so carry is legal.

You've had it pretty bad if you've tried to legally carry in Illinois since there are so many places there off limits. It used to be a real pain to carry legally here when we could not carry in any parks or places that serve alcohol. Pretty much any decent restaurant was off limits. If you like outdoor activities, the goofy park carry ban was a pain too. From what I understand there was a point where you couldn't even carry at the gas stations or grocery stores in Tennessee, since most sell alcohol. There are still some carry traps here but not as bad as you've got in Illinois.

Yep 18 is the federal and TN state minimum age to possess a handgun without parental permission. You just have to be 21 to buy a handgun from an FFL. You can be 18 and buy a handgun from an individual. A few states do have a minimum age of 21 to possess handguns.

HB0040 would make the CONCEALING of a handgun without a permit illegal VS presently it is illegal to carry a firearm openly or concealed without a permit. That would put us in line with states like Kentucky and Louisiana where you can openly carry without a permit but if you choose to conceal you need a permit. SB0131 seems to be a more comprehensive bill that covers various aspects of weapons code. There are a lot of positive points in this bill. 1. Basically if you are legal to possess a firearm you can carry it openly or concealed without a permit. 2. The school weapons law is changed from prohibiting weapons at all public and private K-12 schools and colleges to just public K-12 schools. From what I'm reading private schools can stick up signs and it would still be a felony at that private school to carry, even with a permit. The change also makes the school weapons law apply just to the property owned or operated by the school....not the present mess of a situation where you can get a felony charge wherever there is a school activity say at the local park or theater. 3. The whole park weapons law is deleted. 4. Anyone can store a firearm in a vehicle parked in any location, such as school property, without worry of criminal prosecution VS situation now where you have to have a permit just to store firearms in a vehicle parked at a school or 'posted' property. 5. It looks like the 'no guns' sign law would be modified and require a local or state agency to hold public hearings before a building is posted 'no guns'. My view is these are both really good bills. I honestly would just go ahead and delete/modify the 'no guns' sign law to remove the criminal weapons charge and if I was really ambitious just totally removing the whole schools weapons law or providing an exception for people with permits on K-12 public school property. I would be concerned that if you have either constitutional or open carry w/o permit legalized, you're going to have a TON of no guns signs that could hit people with weapons charges. I'd be proactive and remove that 'no guns' sign weapons charge from the code.

Washington and Minnesota both require people to be 21 to get a license in their states and also that the states they honor only issue to 21 and up. This wasn't something that their AG's did on their own. The AG's of MN and WA were forced to drop us because TN suddenly is issuing to 18 year olds. The only change that will happen to that will be if their legislatures change their reciprocity law to something similar to TN. TN honors all states' licenses, regardless of those states honoring or not honoring our license. You can easily get a Washington license as a non resident by just paying a fee to run a background check. No range, no class. Maybe fingerprinting? You just have to apply in person. If you traveled there much it would be worth it to get one because it is so easy to get. You can also open carry in Washington without a license but have to keep a handgun unloaded when in a vehicle.

It will depend on where you need to travel to as far as what non resident license you may want to pick up. You can get a non resident Florida license with hunter's education card. I don't think that Florida gives you anymore states than Tennessee resident license. We'll just have to see what other states drop TN. There are other states that issue to all 18 year olds and some that issue to 18-20 military. I know Alabama issues to all 18 year olds, Texas to 18-20 military, and Mississippi to 18-20 military. I'm going to guess that whatever states honor a Texas resident license will end up honoring TN. In fact if you look at handgunlaw.us you will see that the Texas license is presently honored by the same states that are now honoring the TN license. Texas requires fingerprinting, class, and live fire qualification just like TN requires. Not sure if they require a class and live fire on renewal anymore. If we drop live fire and class, we'd probably have about the same states that honor AL because they don't go through a class or range qual to get a license. Not sure if AL does fingerprinting now. On handgunlaw.us click on MN and WA and you can see what states they honor. Some of those states have non resident licenses. You can also get a non resident license from MN and Washington. If you travel to either of those places it might be worth it to you to check on. Worst case you can keep a handgun in your hotel room in most places in the US, including California, without a license.

I bet that under 21 military carry permit law won't be reversed unless it is in court over equal protection. It helped some folks earn NRA brownie points in an election year without doing anything of substance. If the legislature tried to reverse that law, then that would appear anti gun. The politician's excuse for losing reciprocity with Washington and Minnesota will be "Well those are states that went for Obama and Clinton, so they are anti gun and they cut reciprocity". People will believe it if they are told that just like the silly "No gun sign liability" bill that was passed last year. When those guys pass some bills like college or school carry for folks with permits, cutting the 'no gun' signs criminal charge, and this is a stretch no permits needed for concealing, then that might actually amount to being 'pro gun'.

People can always use 22 CB rounds or the high powered pellet rifles if they want to be quiet without buying a suppressor. As far as a 22 rifle, I have not gotten good accuracy at even 25 yards out of 22 CP rounds. I also tried the new Remington CBee rounds and they are not great either. Good enough if you want to hit a coke can at 25 yards but nowhere near as accurate as regular 22 ammo.

Does anyone know what size targets are being used at MSSA's iron sight rimfire silhouette competitions? And at what distances are each of the targets? I know they shoot targets out to 100 yards offhand. From what I understand, this is not an NRA sanctioned silhouette match.

Some places auction confiscated guns off at the courthouses. You can get a good deal if you know what you are looking for.

Trump Jr. has his dad's ear when it comes to influencing firearms legislation that comes across his desk from Congress. He might also know some key folks in Congress to get this sort of bill passed. I'd say from a gun rights prospective we are fortunate that Trump as elected and that Congress is majority republican with a few pro gun Democrats mixed in. We have never in recent history had an openly pro 2nd amendment rights president. Little Bush was lukewarm at best to gun rights bills as president and so was Congress when he was president. We know about Bill Clinton and we know about Obama. I don't ever remember hearing a presidential candidate or actual president openly supporting gun rights like Trump did during his campaign and even suggesting that people should arm themselves for protection. Did Bush, Clinton, Obama, or the ones before them ever make such suggestions openly? Not that I can remember. This is a first that we should take advantage of for gun rights. If Trump Jr. only cared about his own gun rights, he probably could quietly get his dad to appoint him as a us marshal or white house policeman and be able to carry anywhere and use whatever toys the feds have.

We will need this if we keep on losing reciprocity with other states. I would assume that if this federal reciprocity bill is unconstitutional, then LEOSA would also be unconstitutional. You can't have one legal and the other not legal because they both are a part of the gun control act just like FOPA 86 that allows people to have unloaded handguns in the trunk of a car and drive straight through states like New York and New Jersey.

I am surprised that this 18-20 year old military provision is even legal for giving permits to a select few while excluding the vast majority of 18-20 year olds because they are non military. If we are going to lose reciprocity with several states over giving permits to people under 21, we might as well just let all 18-20 year olds get a permit. That is much more fair. If the politicians are afraid of under 21 permits, then just don't issue them and let us keep the good reciprocity we had. I would think if some 19 year old non military wanted to push the issue of TN not giving him a permit but giving a military 19 year a permit, he might have a pretty strong case. It would be no different than TN saying that someone who is 19 in the military can buy alcohol (away from the bases at civilian liquor stores) and someone 19 and non military cannot buy alcohol.

I don't think that the business organizations really would care one way or the other if the 'no guns' signs have weapons charges behind them. I would think the business organizations would have a much bigger problem and rightfully so with increased civil liability for a 'no gun' sign, similar to what was attempted in the legislature last year and the bill was watered down. Also, as long as you let the local and state government offices still have that ability to ask people to leave, again I don't think they care if there is a weapons charge attached to it. A business owner does not want to lose his ability control through policy what is on his property, whether that is firearms, alcohol, or someone not wearing shoes. For example, if I do not want people to have beer on my property, even though legal under state law, I don't want the state telling me I can't tell people to remove their beer if I catch them with it. This only becomes an issue if the people do not leave/take their beer and only then is it trespass. Guns should be treated the same way in this state but strangely are not when compared to most states.