News started last fall that Tennessee Republican Steve Dickerson (Nashville) would sponsor firearms confiscation legislation (also known as a “Red Flag” law). He did in fact file it with, so far, only Democrat sponsors. (Senate Bill 1178 and House Bill 1446) The original firearms confiscation legislation was a horrible idea from a constitutional rights perspective,…
Author Archives: JohnHarris
TFA Legislative update for March 22, 2019 and calendar
The events of this week continue to demonstrate that the Tennessee Legislature, for the 9th year in a row, is not proceeding on a path to protect your rights as guaranteed and protected by the 2nd Amendment or the Tennessee Constitution. SPECIAL NOTICE – the proposed “RED FLAG” law (Senate Bill 1178 and House Bill…
Does Tennessee need TWO handgun permitting systems?
Quite simply, no. What it needs are promises kept. What it needs is for Legislators and our Governor to honor their oaths to the constitutions. There is a bill by Sen. John Stevens and Rep. Andy Holt (SB705 and HB1264) which was filed to create a second type of civilian handgun permit in Tennessee. This…
“Red Flag” laws are not sound constitutional options
There are perhaps several laws pending in Tennessee at present which could be characterized as “Red Flag” laws or extreme risk protection orders. Both of those are descriptions of laws which fundamentally do one thing – infringe a constitutionally protected right Recently, Travis McCarter, an attorney in Sevierville, Tennessee, has written a blog post about…
TFA Legislative Update for March 15, 2019 and Calendar for week of March 18
There are several bills which have had activity during the week of March 11, 2019 and which are scheduled to be heard during the week of March 18, 2019. Please see the full PDF reports (links below) for more details. The Calendar report contains 11 pages of bills that are set for various hearings next…
TFA Legislative Update for March 8, 2019 and calendar
There are several bills which have had activity during the week of March 4, 2019 and which are scheduled to be heard during the week of March 11, 2019. Please see the full PDF reports (links below) for more details. SB594/HB712 this is an important technical fix to the definition of a “firearm” under Tennessee…
TFA bills on Calendar for week of March 4 – including 2nd permit bill
There are several bills at various stages in the General Assembly which are on notice for hearings this week. These include the proposal to create a “concealed only” permit which will cost the taxpayers about $1 million per year and will rename the existing permit as an “enhanced” permit. Significantly, the “amended” fiscal note dated…
TFA Bill Status and Calendar Reports – February 22, 2019
The bill status report for February 22, 2019, does not list all of the bills which have been identified for tracking. Instead, it lists only those bills which have had “activity” during the period from February 18 through March 1. There are a few bills to note: SB446/HB187 is the Second Amendment Civil Rights Act…
Tennessee Firearms Association joins in supporting brief with United States Supreme Court alleging NFA is unconstitutional.
The Tennessee Firearms Association has joined in an “amicus brief”, commonly called a “friend of the court” brief, in a federal case brought by Jeremy Kettler and supported by the Gun Owners of America, through its legal arm, the Gun Owners Foundation, which seeks a ruling by the United States Supreme Court that the National…
TFA is tracking 66 new bills in 2019 in Tennessee Legislature – but not “constitutional carry”
Legislators, their staff and “interested parties” have been busy writing a lot of bills for 2019 – approximately 2,000 so far. Of those, TFA has identified approximately 66 that it is tracking based on content or captions of the original bills. It is important to understand that the language that is in a bill or…