Several firearms-related bills that are pending before the Tennessee General Assembly are scheduled to be taken up for committee and subcommittee consideration in the coming days. These bills deal with firearm permitting, self-defense and justifiable force, vouchers for firearms training classes, carry by off-duty law enforcement officers, gun violence as a public health problem, and storing firearms in vehicles.
Four of the bills have action pending in the state House and another has action pending in the state Senate.
HB1898, sponsored by Representative Rusty Grills (R-Newbern) is scheduled for consideration by the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on Tuesday. The legislation transforms existing concealed and enhanced carry permits to firearms permits, allowing the carry of shotguns, rifles, and other legally available guns. Currently, the permits only allow for the carry of handguns.
The Tennessee Firearms Association has announced that they are supporting this legislation because “The 2nd Amendment does not limit itself to handguns and no such limitation under existing Tennessee law to handguns only is constitutionally sound under the ‘shall not be infringed’ mandate.”
SB2823, sponsored by Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield), is on the Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for February 22, 2022. The bill caption reads, “Criminal Procedure – As introduced, grants a defendant who has been charged with a criminal offense based on the use of force or threatened use of force and who asserts that the force was justified by law the right to at least two justifiable use of force hearings prior to trial, at which the prosecution has the burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the use of force was unlawful; requires the court to dismiss the criminal charges and find the defendant immune from criminal prosecution if the prosecution fails to meet that burden. –Amends TCA Title 39.”
The Tennessee Firearms Association is supporting this bill.
HB2850, sponsored by Representative Sabi ‘Doc’ Kumar (R-Springfield-HD66), is up for consideration by the House Civil Justice Subcommittee on Tuesday. The legislation creates a voucher program “for the purpose of providing a handgun safety course to purchasers of handguns at no cost to the handgun purchaser.” It limits the value of the voucher to $30. The Fiscal Impact Statement on the legislation, prepared by the Tennessee General Assembly Fiscal Review Committee staff, estimates that, if enacted, this bill would increase state expenditures by just over $2 million in fiscal year 2022-2023 and nearly $1.9 million in fiscal year 2023-2024 and subsequent years after for the Handgun Permit Division.
The Tennessee Firearms Association opposes this legislation because “While TFA supports training, TFA does not support taxing some citizens to provide cost subsidies to others on the issue of firearms training.”
HB0477, sponsored by Representative Mark White (R-Memphis), has been placed on the House Civil Justice Subcommittee calendar for Tuesday. The legislation provides that an officer is exempt to the ban on weapons in parks and other similar places regardless of whether the officer is on duty or not.
The Tennessee Firearms Association has stated that it is opposing this legislation.
While TFA takes the position that officers who are on duty and in the actual course and scope of their duties should generally not be impeded when it comes to firearms custody, TFA does not believe it to be constitutionally sound that some citizens are granted exceptions or privileges which are denied to other citizens based on an off-duty individual’s on-duty job considerations. Self-defense and personal defense is a fundamental right and all citizens should be treated equally under the law when “off duty” or on “personal time”.
HB1830 is sponsored by Representative London Lamar (D-Memphis) and is scheduled for consideration by the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday. The legislation seeks to require the Tennessee Department of Health to issue an annual report on the “public health impacts of gun violence on local communities.”
The Tennessee Firearms Association opposes this legislation and has issued a statement on it.
This bill seeks to further efforts to pursue a gun control agenda by requiring the department of health to study and report on gun violence as a public health problem. While there is likely a need to have increased data on juvenile violence, violent crime and the socio-economic, social and judicial system, and educational factors influencing violent crime trends in Tennessee, that study is more properly focused on all crime and perhaps reported through the TBI. Any effort to make it a “public health” issue and limited to firearms is spending tax dollars in an effort to support progressive efforts to further gun control.
HB2087, sponsored by Representative Mark White (R-Memphis-HD83), is on the Wednesday calendar for the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee. The legislation would make it a criminal offense to store a firearm or ammunition in a personal vehicle or boat, “unless the firearm or firearm ammunition is kept from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, utility or glove box, or a locked container securely affixed to the motor vehicle or boat.” The legislation also requires that the owner must report a theft within 24 hours of discovery.
It is already a crime to take something that doesn’t belong to you out of another person’s vehicle or boat.
The Tennessee Firearms Association is opposing this legislation.
It is unclear what effect the support or opposition of the Tennessee Firearms Association will have on the outcome of these bills.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Rusty Grills” by State Representative Rusty Grills.
