Tennessee House considers lighter penalties for carrying a handgun without a permit
Jordan Buie
A controversial gun bill that would reduce penalties for carrying without a permit in Tennessee advanced in the legislature Wednesday, despite criticism from the governor’s office, a sheriffs' association and a gun law reform group.
Current law makes it a Class C misdemeanor to carry a handgun without a permit. Violators can be fined up to $500 and face possible imprisonment.
But an amended bill, sponsored by Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-Jonesborough, would only fine violators $250 on the first offense.
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“I think it’s an important bill to be able to protect Tennesseans who are trying to protect their families, trying protect the evil we’ve all seen from last week,” Van Huss said. “The evil that’s out in the world.”
But opponents argued in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee that such reduced penalties would encourage permitless carry across the state.
Discussion focused on situations in which law enforcement find individuals carrying a weapon by accident or when no other crime is being committed.
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Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, a supporter of the proposed legislation, told a story about a time his son's girlfriend was in trouble and Carter carried a handgun while trying to aid her.
The chairman said when he arrived he found her pinned against a chain-link fence by “three very bad looking men” whom he chased away with his handgun.
“What would have happened if I hadn’t have had that gun?” Carter asked. “So I’m saying that night was an extraordinary circumstance. I don’t think if I had been caught with that gun I should have lost my ability to ever have a gun permit. I call this the one bite at the apple.”
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But two Democratic lawmakers on the subcommittee, Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville, and Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, questioned whether a judge would have discretion in a given situation and whether the reduced penalties only pertained to the first offense.
Van Huss said they would.
On a second, he said, officers would be obligated to check records and if an incident were determined to be a second offense, it would be a Class C misdemeanor.
But critics of the bill said discretion should be left in the hands of police officers, who sometimes use the right to arrest someone or confiscate a weapon as way to de-escalate a situation.
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Linda McFadyen-Ketchum, president of the Tennessee chapter of Moms Demand Action, a nonprofit that advocates for what it calls “smarter gun laws,” said the bill would "dismantle the carry permit system."
"Tennessee moms oppose this bill because it effectively permits permitless carry in Tennessee by treating illegally carrying a gun in public without a permit as punishable in the same manner as a traffic citation," she said. "This bill being carried today will incentivize people to disregard the law and make our communities less safe."
Russell Marty, a legislative liaison for the Gov. Bill Haslam's office, said that while the governor's office is not taking an official position on the amendment, there are some concerns.
"The first being that the governor’s office and the Department of Safety very much value the permitting process and our concern reducing the fine from $500 to $250 may provide less of an incentive for citizens to get a handgun carry permit," he said. "Our second concern is with regard to eliminating the possibility for a first offense for law enforcement to arrest and confiscate a weapon in these situations."
Terry Ashe, executive director of the Tennessee Sheriff's Association, agreed.
"We feel like there may be an officer safety issue here where everybody may just decide we'll just carry until we get caught," he said. "That's what this whole process has been about since 1997."
The amended bill passed to full committee with only Beck and Hardaway voting no.
Reach Reporter Jordan Buie at 615-726-5970 or by email at jbuie@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanbuie.