TN to make (some) licensed carriers the same as off-duty LEO

[Euler]

Senate Bill 2523
House Bill 2554

SB2523/HB2554 said:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1350(d), is amended by adding the following as a new subdivision:

(5) For purposes of this section, "law enforcement officer" also means a person who has been issued an enhanced handgun carry permit pursuant to §39-17-1351; provided, that the enhanced handgun carry permit is not suspended, revoked, or expired.

...

Section 39-17-1350(d) is the carve-out that lets off-duty LEOs carry places that mere private individuals cannot. There would still be places that off-duty LEOs cannot carry, so (by extension) private individuals would still be prohibited from carrying there, too.

 

[Bubbacs]

enhanced handgun carry permit

 

I think I read that this will need additional hours of training and additional fees. Plus my sister is there and she and her husband are going to try to get this.

[Xwing]

That's a nice option to have.  It would be great if it was also a way into LEOSA / 50 state reciprocity.  But from my reading of the code, it doesn't look like it.

[Euler]

For handy tracking:

TN status page for the bills

[ScopeEye]

I'm sure IL will do the same  

[Bitter Clinger]

I just applied for a TN permit and I must say, it's confusing as heck, unlike the IL process.

One thing about the IL permitting process is that there isn't any ambiguity about what you need to apply.

 

For TN, I can't really figure out what the major differences are between the standard and enhanced permits, besides the ability to open carry.

Some people say you can carry in "more places", but those places aren't listed anywhere.  What are they?  According to some people, they say you can carry in hospitals and in schools, but then I find other information that says those locations are still prohibited.  The reciprocity map doesn't appear to be any different for a standard or enhanced either.

 

To get an enhanced permit, you need to go to almost IL like training, but with only 8 hours instead of 16 (and incur training costs), pay bigger fees and get fingerprinted.

With the standard permit, you can do the training on-line which is free and the permit cost is much lower.  I'm not sure if you need to be fingerprinted for the standard permit, since that part is unclear.

 

So, is the enhanced permit really worth all the extra trouble and costs?  It seems like it's not.

[Euler]

On 3/3/2022 at 7:33 AM, Bitter Clinger said:

...

For TN, I can't really figure out what the major differences are between the standard and enhanced permits, besides the ability to open carry.

...

So, is the enhanced permit really worth all the extra trouble and costs?  It seems like it's not.

 

Based on https://www.tn.gov/safety/tnhp/handgun/permittypes.html, it seems that the difference is

• the old standard permit is the new enhanced permit; the new standard permit is basically a discount permit with a lower fee and lower training requirement
• enhanced permit allows open carry
• enhanced permit allows carry at schools and universities, probably only with permission of the school/university administration; presumably the new standard permit doesn't allow carry at schools/universities even with permission

 

I suspect the legislature responded to a desire for less training and lower cost, but still thought that there were some places that it didn't want to allow carry unless the carrier understood the legal implications, based on "better" training. I'd say whether it's worth it depends on where you want to go and whether you want to carry openly. The legislature could choose to introduce further differences in the future, too.

[Flynn]

I can't wait to vacate Illinois for Tennessee, they are not perfect but it will feel like paradise compared to Illinois...

[Bitter Clinger]

On 3/3/2022 at 4:27 PM, Euler said:

 

Based on https://www.tn.gov/safety/tnhp/handgun/permittypes.html, it seems that the difference is

• the old standard permit is the new enhanced permit; the new standard permit is basically a discount permit with a lower fee and lower training requirement
• enhanced permit allows open carry
• enhanced permit allows carry at schools and universities, probably only with permission of the school/university administration; presumably the new standard permit doesn't allow carry at schools/universities even with permission

 

I suspect the legislature responded to a desire for less training and lower cost, but still thought that there were some places that it didn't want to allow carry unless the carrier understood the legal implications, based on "better" training. I'd say whether it's worth it depends on where you want to go and whether you want to carry openly. The legislature could choose to introduce further differences in the future, too.

 

That's about what I got out of what I found as well.  The school carry is only by permission.

 

Since TN is a constitutional carry state, I think you really only need the permit if you want to travel outside of TN and need reciprocity.  I don't plan on ever doing open carry.

Adjacent states like NC, AL, KY and GA still require permits, although GA might pass constitutional carry soon from what I hear.