Tennessee State Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) filed a bill last week that will allow Tennessee gun owners with an enhanced handgun carry permit to bring their firearm into buildings that otherwise prohibit or restrict carrying weapons.
A second bill filed by Barrett, which would prevent individuals, businesses, or governments in Tennessee from prohibiting firearms, is scheduled to be heard this week.
Barrett’s HB 2032 would remove “the criminal offense of possessing a weapon in a building that restricts weapons” and allow “a person with an enhanced handgun carry permit to carry a handgun into a business that prohibits or restricts penalties for violations of certain firearms provision.”
The new bill filed as HB 0746 was placed on the calendar for the State House Civil Justice Committee to consider on January 31.
That bill would strike “the authorization for an individual, corporation, business entity, or local, state, or federal government entity to prohibit the possession of weapons” in a specific area. Also, it would similarly remove the criminal offense related to having a weapon in a restricted area.
An identical bill, SB 1037, already exists in the Tennessee Senate, previously filed by Tennessee State Senator John Stevens (R-Huntingdon) in January 2023. Senate bill was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee in March 2023.
Ahead of the current legislative session, Barrett said during an appearance on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy that he intends to make firearms policy a key part of his legislative agenda in 2024.
Citing the Tennessee General Assembly’s refusal to back red flag laws in 2023 and the recent news that Governor Bill Lee is not interested in another attempt to pass the legislation, Barrett said he would file legislation to prevent Tennessee counties and municipalities from passing their own red flag legislation.
Barrett told Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, that “common-sense legislation” would make Tennessee law “consistent from Bristol to Memphis.”
Last year, the Tennessee Firearms Association announced it would file a lawsuit against Tennessee and Lee over the the state’s statute that forbids carrying firearms in public parks, greenways, and campgrounds, as well as the state’s “gun free zone statute” that the group argues makes it a criminal offense in Tennessee “to carry any firearm anywhere in the state with the ‘intent to go armed,'” including “in an individual’s own home or while on their own property.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jody Barrett” by Jody Barrett.Â
