The Tennessee General Assembly return to its Covid-19 reconfigured facilities this week with lots to do and little time to do it. The House resumed subcommittee and committee hearings almost exactly where it left off in mid-March. On the other hand, indicators are that the Senate is proceeding on a much more limited pace with its leadership only wanting to address the budget and a limited scope of other issues and then adjourn. If that differential perspective on the scope of work to be accomplished remains, it suggests that many of the bills tracked by TFA over the last six months may not get a full vote this year in both Houses.
On of the most commonly discussed 2nd Amendment related topics this year has been the Governor’s declaration several months ago that he was filing his own constitutional carry legislation. That led to some great optimism since for the last decade the GOP controlled Legislature had shown no appetite for the constitution’s mandate that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. As the details of the Governor’s bill slowly came to light, it became clear that it was largely a crime control bill at least based on the fiscal projections relative to all the new proposed jail sentences and criminal prosecutions. Rather than including true constitutional carry, it also included a qualified exception to a criminal charge of illegally carry a handgun which exception would only be available to the people who were eligible to apply for the enhanced handgun permit but did not want to do so. The Governor’s bill was approved, as amended, by the House Judiciary this week and moves forward in the House. It is in the Senate’s Finance committee.
There are at least 2 other bills that would support permitless carry. One is HB1553 by Rep. Bruce Griffey (SB1566 by Sen. Joey Hensley)and the other HB2661 by Rep. Christ Todd (SB2888 by Sen. Paul Bailey). Both of these bills moved forward this week and are set to be heard in the House Judiciary on June 2. They have not been heard yet in Senate Judiciary.
Numerous other bills were set for hearing this week. Many of those were defeated or withdrawn. The details are in the attached reports.
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