There is legislation which moved forward in the Tennessee House this week which could cause REAL constitutional carry to be adopted in Tennessee in 2022. The legislation in the House is HB2524 by Rep. Jerry Sexton. The Senate version of the bill is SB2866 by Senator Paul Bailey. The House bill was approved by the House Criminal Justice subcommittee on a voice vote on March 29, 2022 and will next be heard in the House Criminal Justice Committee perhaps as early as next week. The Senate bill is presently scheduled to be heard on April 6, 2022, in the Senate Judiciary committee.
The original bill as filed was supported by TFA. However, as the bill was being considered in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee several House members, Republicans and Democrats, had objections (watch the subcommittee video) to the bill and wanted language added to the bill which language was similar to the restrictions that were added in 2021 to Governor Lee’s permitless carry law.
An amendment was filed on March 28, 2022, in the House that rewrote the bill entirely and which added back in some of these restrictions that some Republican House members on the committee demanded. The amendment is attached to this email.
Although the bill as amended is still a significant step toward real constitutional carry, the bill as amended has some provisions which we hope the Senate Judiciary or the House Criminal Justice Committee will reconsider and potentially revise or remove.
So, what does the amended bill do?
First and foremost, the amended bill deletes existing Tenn. Code Annotated § 39-17-1307(a)(1) which makes it a crime for anyone to carry a firearm in Tennessee with the intent to go armed. This is significant because deleting that language (and any similar language) is what has the potential to create REAL constitutional carry in Tennessee. The bill also deletes entirely the prohibition on carrying firearms in public parks (currently those who rely on the 2021 permitless carry law cannot carry in public parks). The bill deletes the “vehicle transport” law from 2014 since it would no longer be needed. It deletes the permitless carry law from 2021 since it would no longer be needed. It deletes the defenses to a criminal charge of carrying with intent to go armed in TCA 39-17-1308 since that section would no longer be needed. TFA supports all of these changes.
What the amended bill then does is to make it a crime (it already is under state law) for those with felony convictions, misdemeanor domestic violence convictions, orders of protection and those who are prohibited under federal law to possess firearms. This is not a change in current law but merely is language that incorporates and restates current law since this code section is being entirely rewritten and simplified.
So, is there a problem with the amended bill?
Yes. Yes, there are several.
What the amended bill does that is a substantial negative change from existing law and TFA hopes will be more closely examined and addressed is the following which are expansions of firearms possession prohibitions in Tennessee:
First, the amended bill makes anyone with any stalking conviction a prohibited person who is unable to possess firearms and unable to carry them not only under this law but also potentially if they already have or want to get a handgun permit. One problem with this is that the stalking statute, Tenn. Code Annotated § 39-17-315, has at least 4 degrees of stalking. Three of those stalking categories are felony charges which would have been prohibiting under current law. Those felony stalking convictions were prohibited under the original bill as written. However, under that statute there is a stalking crime that is a non-violent misdemeanor. Because of the insistence of a House Republican on the committee, Rep. Michael Curcio, the amendment includes all stalking convictions – including the nonviolent misdemeanor – as situations rendering someone a prohibited person who cannot possess firearms. This is not limited to “carrying” a firearm, it would prohibit any possession. Further, because of the structure of the amended bill, these stalking convictions may not be subject to the provisions of law which allow individuals to have their civil rights restored.
Some might say “well, wasn’t this also part of the Governor’s permitless carry law in 2021?” No, not like this. The 2021 law made it a crime for those individuals to carry “with the intent to go armed” under Tenn. Code Annotated § 39-17-1307(h)(1). The 2021 law did not make it a crime of these individuals to purchase or possess firearms.
It is possible that there are people in Tennessee now who have misdemeanor non-violent stalking convictions who have either the enhanced or concealed only permits. It is foreseeable that the Department of Safety would revoke all of those permits – permanently.
It is also possible that we have members of law enforcement in Tennessee or who work for federal firearms dealers or who might even be a federal firearms dealer who have misdemeanor stalking convictions. If this concern about misdemeanor stalking convictions is not addressed then we could have commissioned officers as well as federal firearms dealers and employees who would lose their jobs, their commissions and perhaps even federal firearms licenses.
Second, the amended bill makes it a crime for anyone who has 2 or more DUIs in the last 10 years or 1 or more DUIs in the last 5 years to possess a firearm. That means that a single DUI could render someone a prohibited person relative to purchasing or possessing firearms for 5 years in Tennessee and that 2 or more DUIs could make someone a prohibited person for up to 10 years. This prohibition would apply also to people coming here from other states who might have handgun permits from those other states or who would be relying on Tennessee’s “constitutional carry” law if adopted.
But, this restriction could also result in people who have enhanced handgun permits or concealed only permits losing their permits. Why? Because the language is different. Under the handgun permit law, someone is disqualified from getting the permit (but not possessing firearms) if they have 2 or more DUIs in the last 10 years AND one or more of those are in the last five years. Note the conjunctive “AND” and compare it with the “OR” that is contained in the amended bill. If this passes, it is possibly that the Tennessee Department of Safety could start revoking handgun permits for some individuals who do not have disqualifying DUIs under the permit law but who would be as a result of the amended bill’s passage entirely prohibited from possessing firearms in Tennessee at all until the time windows expire
Further, this DUI language might, depending on the circumstances, also apply to commissioned law enforcement officers who have a DUI in their history and cause them to lose their commissions as well as their jobs. It could also apply to individuals who have or work for federal firearms dealers or even gun ranges because the language in the amended bill makes it a crime to “posses” any firearm.
But again, some might say “well, wasn’t this also part of the Governor’s permitless carry law in 2021?” No, not like this. The 2021 law made it a crime for those individuals to carry “with the intent to go armed” under Tenn. Code Annotated § 39-17-1307(h)(1). The 2021 law did not make it a crime of these individuals to purchase or possess firearms or prohibit them from obtaining the handgun permits if they were otherwise eligible.
These two provisions of the amended bill clearly have major potentially unintended consequences on people, both in Tennessee and from other states, who are not currently classified as prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms. If this was the intent of the legislators who demanded these amendments, then let us make sure everyone knows their intent and what this amended bill does. If this was not their intent and the language is simply overly or unintentionally broad, then this language needs to be fixed and there is still plenty of time to do that.
In sum, TFA supports the bill as amended but strongly recommends that the provisions regarding misdemeanor stalking and the DUI provisions be reconsidered and that the intent of the legislators on these issues be clearly addressed in the official legislative history of this amended bill.
Please get busy on the phone call your personal legislators as well as the committee members.
1) Call your House and Senate members. Ask them to SUPPORT this bill but make certain that they understand that there are serious concerns with the amendment that need to be carefully considered before passing this bill. Follow up with phone calls every day or so to make sure they do it. If you don’t know who your legislators are, you can look it up on the state website. Email addresses for committee members are included in the attached PDF.
2) Contact by phone and email the members of the committees which are to hear these bills. You don’t have to leave a long message or debate with them. Simply state that you are a concerned Tennessee citizen and TFA member. Tell them you SUPPORT the bill but that you are very concerned and want them to carefully consider the consequences of making DUIs and non-violent misdemeanors factors that would cause people to loose their 2nd Amendment rights, their ability to defend themselves, their homes and their families. Tell them you are concerned about people, including perhaps law enforcement, loosing their jobs if this bill passes as amended.
3) Go to the TFA Facebook page and share not only your efforts but also the responses you received. Let’s support those legislators who do the right things and lets REPLACE and EXPOSE the ones who do not.
The contact numbers of the legislators who should be contacted are:
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (615) 741-6806
Speaker Cameron Sexton (615) 741-2343
Senate Judiciary:
Chairman Mike Bell (615) 741-1946
1st Vice Chair Dawn White (615) 741-6853
2nd Vice Chair Paul Rose (615) 741-1967
Todd Gardenhire (615) 741-6682
Sara Kyle (615) 741-4167
London Lamar (615) 741-2509
Jon Lundberg (615) 741-5761
Kerry Roberts (615) 741-4499
John Stevens (615) 741-4576
House Criminal Justice Committee:
Chairman Michael Curcio – (615) 741-3513
Vice Chair Jerry Sexton – (615) 741-2534
Bill Beck – (615) 741-3229
Scotty Campbell – (615) 741-2050
Vincent Dixie – (615) 741-1997
Clay Doggett – (615) 741-7476
Andrew Farmer – (615) 741-4419
Bruce Griffey – (615) 741-6804
G.A. Hardaway – (615) 741-5625
David Hawk – (615) 741-7482
Dan Howell – (615) 741-7799
Bud Hulsey – (615) 741-2886
William Lamberth – (615) 741-1980
Debra Moody – (615) 741-3774
Lowell Russell – (615) 741-3736
Paul Sherrell – (615) 741-1963
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