The 2023-2024 Legislative session has concluded and the facts could not be any clearly. The 113th General Assembly, which operated under a Republican super majority in both houses with Lt. Governor Randy McNally in charge of the Senate and Speaker Cameron Sexton in charge of the House, failed to pass any significant legislation that would…
Author Archives: JohnHarris
Arkansas Federal Court refuses to issue preliminary injunction against ATF “engaged in business rule”
On May 1, 2024, more than 20 states including the state of Tennessee sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in federal court in Arkansas in which they claimed that the ATF’s new “engaged in business” rule was void. The lead plaintiff in the litigation was the state of Kansas. The states sought…
TFA’s 2024 State Legislature Candidate Survey
TFA’s 2024 survey of candidates for the State Legislature is below. We often get the question of whether TFA endorses candidates and if so who. As an IRS recognized 501c4, the Tennessee Firearms Association is not allowed to and does not support or endorse a candidate for elected office. TFA does not “score” candidates although…
Federal Court issues Temporary Restraining Order against ATF from enforcing “engaged in business rule”
On May 1, 2024, Tennessee Firearms Association, on behalf of its members, filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas as a co-plaintiff with the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, the Virginia Citizens Defense League and Jeffrey Tormey. On May 19, 2024, Judge Matthew J.…
Constitutional concept of “arms” under the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment was intended to and its primary purpose is to prohibit the government from infringing or limiting access by civilians to arms that are suitable, necessary and/or appropriate to military engagement. That purpose is made clear by the Amendment’s preamble which declares that the security of a free state is dependent upon a…
Tennessee Court of Appeals holds that TWRA unconstitutionally trespassed on private property
In a decision released on May 9, 2024, in the matter of Terry Rainwaters, et al. v. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, et al., No: W2022-00514-COA-R3-CV, the Tennessee Court of Appeals held that a Tennessee statute (enacted by the Tennessee Legislature) on which the TWRA relied for its warrantless searches is unconstitutional as applied. That decision…
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joins 21 other states to sue ATF over “engaged in business” rule
On May 2, 2024, the office of the Tennessee Attorney General announced that Tennessee and 21 other states had filed a federal civil action against the ATF seeking to block the ATF’s new rule which massively redefines “engaged in the business” in such a way as to potentially require hundreds of thousands of individuals and…
Tennessee Firearms Association sues ATF over the new “engaged in the business” rule
On May 1, 2024, the Tennessee Firearms Association had the honor to join the States of Texas (lead plaintiff), the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, Jeffrey Tormey, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation and the Virginia Citizens Defense League in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Texas against the Bureau of…
Tennessee Legislature adjourns without passing strong pro-Second Amendment bills
The 2023-2024 Tennessee Legislative session ended on April 25, 2024. Many legislators posted on social media the same image proclaiming the end of the legislative session. Tennessee Firearms Association will do a detailed review of what did and did not pass once the time passes for Governor Lee to sign or veto these bills. Thus,…
The Tennessee Legislature’s passage of legislation to potentially increase number of firearms on school grounds
On April 23, 2023, the Tennessee Legislature passed Senate Bill 1325 / House Bill 1202 that was carried by Senator Paul Bailey and Representative Ryan Williams. The legislation would authorize under very limited circumstances a “person employed by an [sic] LEA [Local Education Agency] to possess and carry a concealed handgun on the grounds of…