Tennessee: General Assembly Passes Major Pro-Gun Bills

Tuesday night, the Tennessee General Assembly passed multiple NRA-backed pro-gun bills.  These bills will now be sent to the desk of Governor Bill Haslam for his consideration and your NRA ILA will keep you updated throughout the process. 

Those bills include:

After intense debate and the defeat of numerous hostile amendments in both chambers, Senate Bill 445/ House Bill 508, sponsored by state Senator John Stevens and state Representative William Lamberth passed out of the House and Senate.  This legislation 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 government entities from prohibiting or restricting firearms on local property unless certain security conditions are met.  Law-abiding citizens should not be placed in jeopardy of unintentionally violating local restrictions 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. 

The majority conference committee report for Senate Bill 983/ House Bill 752, sponsored by state Senator Dolores Gresham and state Representative Tilman Goins, was passed in both chambers.  This legislation would allow a person, who is granted an order of protection and who is not otherwise a prohibited person according to state or federal law, to immediately carry a firearm after the initial order of protection is issued.  Within 21 calendar days, the petitioner is required to go through an expedited process at the DMV for a background check and will then be issued a temporary permit for an additional 60 days.  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. 

Thank you to those NRA members and Second Amendment supporters who contacted their legislators in support of these important pro-gun bills.  Also, thank you to those legislators who supported these measures through the legislative process.