Carrying a loaded rifle/shotgun in vehicle...now it's legal?

[Zulu Cowboy]

Am I to understand, that the TN legislature amended the law against carrying a loaded rifle/shotgun in your vehicle?

Well, I must be out of the loop...I ran across this old article in the NY Times, and this is the first time I've even heard this...

Zulu Cowboy

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Tennessee Expands Gun Rights

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/us/16tennessee.html?_r=1

June 15, 2009

"...(snip)...The new Tennessee laws also include measures that will allow permit holders to carry guns in bars and restaurants, if they are not drinking alcohol, and to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun in their vehicles if the ammunition is in the magazine but not in the chamber, although it can be in the chamber for purposes of self-defense."

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this post is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes…

[nightrunner]

yea, the law passed awhile back allowing HCP-holders to have a loaded long gun as long as it wasnt chambered. Im guessing the last part means that if you have to use it for self defense that you can chamber a round legally.

[JAB]

IANAL but to my mind all of this came about because Tennessee's definition of what makes a gun 'loaded' is asinine. Apparently, not only does 'loaded' mean having one in the chamber - or even in the weapon - but also if you have loaded mags in the same range bag as the empty firearm. You can even get in trouble for having an empty shotgun behind the seat of your truck with a box of shells next to it. Changing the law was presented largely as a way to supposedly to make it easier for hunters, etc. to have both ammo and gun in their vehicle and not have to go to great lengths to isolate the gun from the ammo just to avoid violating the law, especially when moving between hunting locations. What the heck this has to do with having an HCP I don't know as not all hunters have a HCP and not all HCP holders hunt. In other words, hunters without an HCP still must isolate ammo from the firearm in their vehicle. To me, the common sense thing to do would be to simply clarify that 'loaded' means having ammo in the tube mag, a loaded detachable mag that is in the mag well, etc. and doesn't mean having the weapon and ammo seperate in the same compartment of the vehicle.

The 'side effect' of doing it the way they did is that those of us with HCPs can now legally have ammo in a long gun - as long as the chamber is empty - in our vehicles. I don't mind having that option, at all - it just doesn't really seem to have been the best, easiest or most intelligent way of changing the law if the real goal was to make things easier on legal hunters.

Edited March 8, 2010 by JAB

[Fallguy]

To the OP, that is correct, new law says those with a HCP can have a loaded long gun in a private vehicle so long as there is not a round in the chamber. But a round can be chambered to use the weapon in self-defense.

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On those without a HCP there is a bill that is trying to address this for, but I'm not sure if it is a big help or not.

HB2567/SB2390

It has already passed the Senate with this amendment, which makes the bill. It says the ammo can not be in the chamber and that a loaded clip can not be in or close to the rifle or shotgun.

It is scheduled to be heard in the House Criminal Practice and Procedure sub-committee Wed along with several other firearm bills.

[Smith]

I really like this law as it just makes sense. Funny we have to "create" laws to validate what should be understood. Makes me think the human race hans't come so far after all.

[Guest 270win]

The easiest thing would be to remove long guns as weapons from the 'intent to go armed' statute. Long guns are not weapons in a lot of states (Arkansas, Texas, Alabama) and there are no problems. It makes things a lot more simple if you want to drive down the road with a shotgun or rifle in the truck. Where I'm from, anyone can cruise around or even walk down the street with a rifle loaded. Do you see anyone walking down the street in Little Rock with a loaded rifle? No...but it sure cuts down on the problem of worrying about if you are legal or not going to the range or hunting or just like to keep a rifle in the vehicle.

[ngoeser59]

I would personally get a little nervous if I saw someone carrying a rifle down the street loaded. But that's just me.

[Smith]

I would personally get a little nervous if I saw someone carrying a rifle down the street loaded. But that's just me.

Sad isn't it? My dad's generation used to walking around town carrying their .22 rifles and handguns on their way to the woods for hunting etc. and it was nothing but normal. Fear has a way of shaping our lives in a fashion that does not make us better.

[Guest 270win]

Those guys didn't hurt anyone either. I used to walk through my neighborhood in Arkansas carrying a loaded firearm to the woods to hunt or shoot or hike and no one said a thing. These extra laws in TN could have possibly hassled me when I was growing up....very sad. That is all extra worthless laws are good for.

[Mike.357]

I would personally get a little nervous if I saw someone carrying a rifle down the street loaded. But that's just me.

Why would that make you nervous, and how would you know if it was loaded or not?

[Mike.357]

And I find it really retarded that I can be trusted to carry any number of chambered handguns on me, but a chambered long gun in my vehicle is against the law.

Politicians are a bunch of screwballs.

[Sidinman]

If a man walking down the street with a rifle or shotgun scares you. Then what about all the people walking around with "loaded" handguns on their hips.

[Sidinman]

I guess if you can't see them, then you ain't skeered. hum

[Glenn]

If the guy carrying the rifle was loaded, I might be scared too.

Glenn

[Sidinman]

why?

[Smith]

If the guy carrying the rifle was loaded, I might be scared too.

Glenn

why?

Read it again.

[JAB]

Why would that make you nervous, and how would you know if it was loaded or not?

As much as I would like to say I wouldn't see it as a 'big deal', I am not sure I can truthfully say that. Now, if the setting were a more rural area (a country road, etc.) I would feel more 'relaxed' about it than if someone were, say, walking down Gay Street in downtown Knoxville with a rifle. Of course, the reason such a sight might cause me to be a bit 'tense' is that the laws against such have kept it from being commonplace. In other words, in our state - because carrying a long gun down the street is not very common - the first thing I would think of would be that the guy doesn't care if he gets in trouble because he IS planning on shooting someone/multiple someones. Maybe I shouldn't feel that way, but there it is.

If, on the other hand, our state were more friendly to openly carrying long arms - meaning that doing so might be more commonplace - it probably wouldn't have the same effect. If such were the case, it probably wouldn't make me any more uncomfortable than someone openly carrying a handgun.

Growing up (I was born in 1971 so it wasn't that long ago) it seemed like nearly every pickup truck you saw had a gun rack in the back window, usually equipped with a shotgun and a rifle or at least a shotgun - and not just during hunting season. I guess that would be legal with an HCP (or possibly without an HCP as long as the ammo is isolated from the firearm.) I don't think I would do that because of the increased risk of theft (not to mention having my truck window smashed in) but I do miss seeing those shotguns in the back windows of pickups. I always found such a sight to be more 'comforting' than 'threatening'.

Edited March 9, 2010 by JAB

[Guest 270win]

The point I was trying to make is, even though there is no state law against carrying loaded long guns down the streets in Dallas or Little Rock, you just don't see someone strapped with one on the shoulder on the sidewalk. It's not going to happen if TN was smart and cut long guns out as 'weapons'. It would lessen the problems that hunters, sport shooters, and honest folks have transporting/carrying shotguns and rifles. Very few criminals use long guns. Most use handguns, knives, bottles.

To put things in perspective, you cannot be charged with a weapons offense in Arkansas for having a loaded long gun on university property because, again, long guns are not weapons there. Have it in the truck, car, dorm room, whatever, yeah you may be breaking a policy, but you aren't breaking state law. Anyone may possess a loaded long gun...there is no such thing as a license/permit needed for it to be loaded or unloaded. Pure stupid what TN requires for something i've done since high school and it can't even be in the CHAMBER!

Edited March 9, 2010 by 270win

[JAB]

To put things in perspective, you cannot be charged with a weapons offense in Arkansas for having a loaded long gun on university property because, again, long guns are not weapons there. Have it in the truck, car, dorm room, whatever, yeah you may be breaking a policy, but you aren't breaking state law. Anyone may possess a loaded long gun...there is no such thing as a license/permit needed for it to be loaded or unloaded.

I LIKE it!

[jdogvol]

I may be pollyannaish, but aren't all these "laws" that regulate the manner in which firearms are transported (e.g. unloaded, magazine not immediately accessible, etc, etc, etc) in violation of our state constitution, which authorizes the legislature only to regulate the "WEARING" of a firearm? The plain meaning of the word wearing is "the act of having on your person as a covering or adornment." For example, if i were to transport a loaded pistol within the center console of my vehicle without it being affixed to my person, I would not be wearing it, and presumably the legislature shouldn't be able to say a thing about it.

[Oh Shoot]

I may be pollyannaish, but aren't all these "laws" that regulate the manner in which firearms are transported (e.g. unloaded, magazine not immediately accessible, etc, etc, etc) in violation of our state constitution, which authorizes the legislature only to regulate the "WEARING" of a firearm? ..

Yes.

- OS

[Fallguy]

I may be pollyannaish, but aren't all these "laws" that regulate the manner in which firearms are transported (e.g. unloaded, magazine not immediately accessible, etc, etc, etc) in violation of our state constitution, which authorizes the legislature only to regulate the "WEARING" of a firearm? The plain meaning of the word wearing is "the act of having on your person as a covering or adornment." For example, if i were to transport a loaded pistol within the center console of my vehicle without it being affixed to my person, I would not be wearing it, and presumably the legislature shouldn't be able to say a thing about it.

Yes, I think many of them are.

Technically possession of a firearm period is illegal in TN. Being on your property or the fact the weapon is unloaded are only defenses to the violation of possession of a firearm.

Doesn't sound much like a right to me....

[Guest 10mm4me]

I really like this law as it just makes sense. Funny we have to "create" laws to validate what should be understood. Makes me think the human race hans't come so far after all.

Not when it comes to politicians, no I would go so far as to say they have devolved intellectually over the centuries.