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 on TFA website) for more details.

SB594/HB712 this is an important technical fix to the definition of a “firearm” under Tennessee law. There are several different definitions of a firearm in Tennessee law currently and those definitions are inconsistent with each other and also with the definition under federal law that most gun owners actually are familiar with. This legislation would make state definitions consistent with the federal definition of a “firearm” which excludes “antiques” from the definition. The Senate passed the legislation (Sen. Kerry Roberts as sponsor) this week. The House (Rep. Jeremy Faison sponsor) has not taken action on the bill yet.

SB705/HB1264 (Rep. Holt and Sen. Stevens) is a bill that would create a second permit in Tennessee that is designated as a “concealed only” permit and it renames the existing permit as an “enhanced permit” which is only a name change with no true enhancements being proposed. The proposed concealed permit would require an application to the Department of Safety, fingerprinting, a background check, proof of a minimum 2 hours of training but it would be “free” under the bill as it appears to exist presently. The bill however has a fiscal expense of perhaps more than $1 million dollars which, if passed in its current form, would be paid by taxpayers so its only “free” in the socialist sense of the word. HOWEVER, this bill has a very broad caption. It could be amended to create a true constitutional carry law such as Kentucky and Oklahoma have passed already in 2019 and which others states like Alabama and Georgia are seriously considering. Please call the sponsors and your individual legislators to encourage them to amend this bill to pass constitutional carry in Tennessee in 2019!!!

SB423/HB494 would have removed the staff excise tax on ammunition (a tax paid in addition to the sales tax). The House Finance committee effectively killed the bill this week by placing it behind the governor’s budget (the bill could revive if Gov. Lee included the elimination of this extra tax on the 2nd Amendment in his proposed budget – so let’s see how strongly he feels about the 2nd Amendment).

SB446/HB187 was filed as the “Second Amendment Civil Rights Act of 2019”. It was originally intended to prohibit local governments (like Nashville) from discriminating in the public rental of government owned venues (like fairgrounds) to the public on grounds that the proposed event related to or involved hunting, outdoor sports or firearms. The bill has been amended to effectively remove all of those intended protections.

SB423/HB494 would have removed the staff excise tax on ammunition (a tax paid in addition to the sales tax). The House Finance committee effectively killed the bill this week by placing it behind the governor’s budget (the bill could revive if Gov. Lee included the elimination of this extra tax on the 2nd Amendment in his proposed budget – so let’s see how strongly he feels about the 2nd Amendment).

SB446/HB187 was filed as the “Second Amendment Civil Rights Act of 2019”. It was originally intended to prohibit local governments (like Nashville) from discriminating in the public rental of government owned venues (like fairgrounds) to the public on grounds that the proposed event related to or involved hunting, outdoor sports or firearms. The bill has been amended to effectively remove all of those intended protections.

There are several bills included in the reports (below) which are bad bills that are set for hearings next week and/or which are making progress. Please review the reports for more details.

Please contact your legislators concerning these bills. It is important that we keep reminding them about the bills which remove infringements on our rights but it perhaps more important that we demand as voters that they put a stop to any proposed legislation the detracts to the smallest degree from our constitutionally protected rights

Committee compositions, calendars and members are found on the State Website

You can look up your individual legislators on the State’s “Find my Legislator” page.