Today, the Tennessee General Assembly convened for a Special Session at the request of Governor Bill Lee. While the announced purpose of the session is to address public safety, there is an attempt to force through several ineffective gun control measures that were rejected by the General Assembly earlier this year. As of this afternoon, there are numerous anti-gun bills introduced. We urge all NRA members and Second Amendment supporters in Tennessee to contact their state senators and representatives to let them know you OPPOSE all gun control and ask them to protect your Second Amendment rights.
Below is a list of restrictive measures that have been filed. You can view the text of each bill at Tennessee General Assembly - Bill Search.
- House Bill 7001/Senate Bill 7068 specifies that classes that qualify as training for issuance of an enhanced handgun carry permit or concealed handgun carry permit must include training on the use of gun locks. Therefore, classes that don’t explicitly address “gun locks” would no longer be certified by the state for permitting purposes.
- House Bill 7047/Senate Bill 7011 creates a Class E felony of threatened mass violence for the reckless handling, displaying, or discharging of a firearm while operating or as a passenger in a motor vehicle. This legislation could seemingly sweep in conduct, such as a person or passenger moving guns around in their car in a completely non-threatening manner. Under current Tennessee law, threatening someone with a firearm from a motor vehicle is already aggravated assault and is a Class C felony.
- House Bill 7056/Senate Bill 7049 expands the offense of aggravated stalking to include persons who purchase a semi-automatic rifle or attempt to use a semi-automatic rifle for the course and furtherance of stalking. The legislation attempts to carve out lawful semi-automatic firearms for different treatment under the law.
- House Bill 7074/Senate Bill 7044 & House Bill 7075/Senate Bill 7043 include several “safe storage” provisions that control how individual Tennesseans keep firearms.
- House Bill 7079 requires a federally licensed firearm dealer to install a firearm safety device on a firearm before delivering the firearm to a purchaser if the purchaser is not a federally licensed firearm dealer.
- House Bill 7090/Senate Bill 7040 requires the Department of Safety to use its existing permanent electronic overhead informational displays located on the interstate system to provide messages that encourage the safe storage of firearms.
- House Bill 7098/Senate Bill 7026 establishes the Tennessee voluntary do not sell firearms list to prohibit the possession, transportation, and sale of firearms to any person who is voluntarily admitted to a public or private hospital or treatment resource for diagnosis, observation, and treatment of a mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and voluntarily registers to be enrolled to the list.
- House Bill 7099, House Bill 7100/Senate Bill 7029, & House Bill 7101/Senate Bill 7042 so-called “red flag” gun confiscation legislation requiring firearms surrender without due process.
Your NRA-ILA will be monitoring these bills and reporting if and when any are set for committee hearings in the Tennessee House or Senate. In the meantime, contact your state lawmakers and urge them to OPPOSE these restrictions on law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights! Please stay tuned to your email inbox and www.nraila.org for further updates.
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