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Tennessee: Busy Year Ahead as Important Pro-Gun and Anti-Gun Bills Get Filed

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Tennessee: Busy Year Ahead as Important Pro-Gun and Anti-Gun Bills Get Filed

As the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes, many pro-gun and anti-gun bills have been filed.  The following pro-gun bills are among many, but not all, that aim to promote and protect your Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense:

House Bill 508 and Senate Bill 445, sponsored by Representative William Lamberth (R-44), Representative Andy Holt (R-3) and Senator John Stevens (R-24), would create a private cause of action for a party that is adversely affected by a local ordinance, resolution, policy, rule, or other enactment on firearms preempted by state law.  This bill would prohibit local or state government entities from prohibiting or restricting firearms on state or local property unless certain conditions are met.  Citizens with no criminal intent should not be placed in jeopardy of running afoul of local restrictions they don`t even know exist simply because they have crossed from one municipality to another.  Gun owners continue to be unduly burdened by local ordinances which violate the current state firearm preemption law.

House Bill 752 and Senate Bill 983, sponsored by Representative Tilman Goins (R-10), Representative Debra Moody (R-81) and Senator Dolores Gresham (R-26), would allow a person, who is granted an order of protection and who is not otherwise a prohibited person, to carry a firearm for 60 days after the initial order of protection is issued. This would allow a person under an order of protection to exercise his or her right to self-defense while allowing time to complete the Tennessee handgun carry permit process.

House Bill 1006 and Senate Bill 861, sponsored by Representative Andy Holt (R-3) and Senator Kerry Roberts (R-25), would apply criminal and civil immunity upon a person who lawfully uses a firearm in self-defense, defense of another, or defense from a person committing criminal offense.

House Bill 40 and Senate Bill 147, sponsored by Representative James Van Huss (R-6) and Senator Mae Beavers (R-17), would allow lawful gun owners to openly carry their firearms without a permit.

House Bill 27 and Senate Bill 24, sponsored by Representative Timothy Hill (R-3) and Senator Mark Green (R-22), would exempt active-duty military service members and veterans who have specialties as military police, special operations, or Special Forces from concealed carry permit firing range requirements.

Additionally, your NRA-ILA will be working hard to fight several anti-gun bills are aimed to infringe on your rights including:

House Bill 961 and Senate Bill 670, sponsored by Representative Johnnie Turner (D-85) and Senator Lee Harris, would allow the issuance of a temporary order of protection preventing a person to possess a firearm based on a law enforcement officer’s judgement that the person is a danger to another person.  This bill would violate your right to due process. 

House Bill 962 and Senate Bill 671, sponsored by Representative Harold M. Love, Jr. (D-58) and Senator Lee Harris (D-29), would create within the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations a voluntary "Do Not Sell" firearm registry, making it a criminal offense of transferring a firearm to anyone on the registry.

House Bill 1319 and Senate Bill 1097, sponsored by Representative Mike Stewart (D-52) and Senator Sara Kyle (D-30), would criminalize the private transfer of a firearm by requiring any sale or transfer to be done only through a federally licensed gun dealer with limited exceptions.

Your NRA-ILA will keep you updated on the status of these bills as they move through the General Assembly.  To help assure success in 2017, please continue to check www.NRAILA.org and your email inbox for alerts on the latest action items.

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NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.