Talk:Gun laws in Tennessee

handgun permit history
Tennessee did have a Application for Permission to Purchase a Handgun with a so-called fifteen day waiting period. The dealer and purchaser would fill out the application; the purchaser would hand deliver the application to the county sheriff if the shop was in the county or to the chief of police if the shop was in the city. The purpose was to allow a background check of criminal history. When I bought a handgun in town, I walked the application in triplicate to the police clerk who told me to wait a minute; she came back a few minutes later with the application signed by Police Chief Keesling and approved "no record this subject". They kept one copy and gave me the dealer's and my copies signed and stamped. When I bought a gun at a shop outside town, the application I delivered to the sheriff's dept was then mailed to Chief Keesling and the PD mailed the approved copies to the dealer; this was a 24 hour turn around. If a sheriff or police chief did not approve of private handgun ownership, they could wait out the 15 days, but that would be a tacit approval. Application denial would require cause and the only cause accepted was that the person had a criminal history. Handgun Control Inc./Brady Campaign were very happy with the permit and fifteen day waiting period laws. When the federal NICS was introduced for all licensed dealer gun purchases handgun, rifle or shotgun under the Brady Law, the state did away with the Permission to Purchase a Handgun and fifteen day waiting period and substituted a state TICS check through the TBI who would then do the NICS check and report back to the dealer.

TENNESSEE Constitution Article I Declaration of Rights, Article I Section 26: "That the citizens of this state have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime." Notice in keeping with the language of the original US Constitution, people have rights while government institutions have powers. According to court rulings, attorney general opinions and statements of legislative intent, regulation must accomplish a purpose of preventing crime without unduly restricting the traditional, lawful uses of arms (not just guns but arms or weapons in general) including self-defense, hunting, military preparedness training (civilian marksmanship), protecting livestock from predators, or collection of arms as curios, heirlooms or keepsakes.

The key to understanding Tennessee gun laws is this: a lot of things have been tried over the years. Gun laws that appear to work stand; those that don't, fall. --Naaman Brown (talk) 18:46, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Public transportation and hand guns
My husband works for a public transportation company that is run by the state of Tennessee, he was recently told in a meeting by his company that they now have to allow their clients to carry a gun on the van? this putting the drivers in severe danger as well as other clients on board, could this be true for the state of Tennessee?

MaryP1127 — Preceding unsigned comment added by MaryP1127 (talk • contribs) 00:30, 11 August 2017 (UTC)

non-resident carrying of handgun might be restricted by reciprocity
Based on my layperson interpretation of 39-17-1351(r)(3)(A), I believe an out of state permit holder may only carry if the TN Commissioner of Safety has entered into a reciprocity agreement with the state in which the permit holder is a resident. If that is the case, the statements "Tennessee recognizes any valid, out-of-state permit for carrying a handgun as long as the permittee is not a resident of Tennessee" and "Additionally, per Tenn. Code Ann. 39-17-1351 r.(1) a facially valid handgun permit, firearms permit, weapons permit or license issued by another state shall be valid in this state [Tennessee] according to its terms and shall be treated as if it is a handgun permit issued by this state [Tennessee])" are misleading. --Tippenring (talk) 04:13, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
 * See hereTerrorist96 (talk) 02:06, 1 June 2018 (UTC)