Permitless carry bill for guns advances
House panel OKS it despite Lee saying it’s no longer a priority
A bill initially backed by Gov. Bill Lee to allow for the carrying of a handgun without a permit advanced in a House committee Tuesday, despite the governor earlier saying it was no longer a priority.
While the House judiciary committee chairman Rep. Michael Curcio, R-dickson, announced at the beginning of the meeting that they would not take up the governor’s pair of criminal justice reform bills, the committee still proceeded with a permitless carry bill Lee announced in January, passing it four hours into the meeting.
Curcio said the decision not to vote on the criminal justice reform bills was made in consultation with Lee.
The governor in recent weeks said his pre-coronavirus legislative initiatives, including permitless carry and wide-ranging abortion restriction legislation “are not the priorities” he now has for the
legislature this year.
“My priority is going to be on the state’s budget and making sure that we make the decisions that are going to best serve Tennesseans through this next particularly challenging economic period,” Lee said in late April.
The legislation, House Bill 2817, would allow for both open and concealed carrying of handguns for people 21 and older, as well as for military members who are 18 to 20. House members spent hours debating the legislation in between hearing testimony from several speakers against it and one in support.
The bill would also increase the crime of theft of a firearm from a misdemeanor to a felony, as well as mandate a sixmonth incarceration sentence for the crime, up from the current 30-day requirement.
It passed 16-7 and will advance to the House finance committee. A single Republican, Rep. Martin Daniel of Knoxville, voted against the legislation. He told committee members he did so because his district is largely opposed to the measure and supports the current handgun permitting process.
Lt. Gov. Randy Mcnally, R-oak Ridge, has said he is uninterested in the Senate taking up legislation not directly related to the coronavirus pandemic, making necessary changes to the budget or other bills that are time-sensitive and can’t wait until next session.
Police, prosecutors still speaking out against permitless carry
Leading law enforcement officials and prosecutors around the state have been among those also speaking out about the legislation, which former Gov. Bill Haslam opposed when it previously was filed.
Bill Gibbons, president of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security under Haslam, provided testimony against the permitless carry portion of the bill, but in favor of enhanced penalties for gun crimes.
Gibbons is also the former district attorney in Memphis.
“Over time, you’re going to see, basically, our handgun permitting system totally undermined, and there won’t be any reason for the vast majority of citizens to seek a permit or to renew a permit,” Gibbons said.
He and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-portland, quibbled over what the estimated fiscal impact of the bill will be, though Gibbons noted that the legislation comes at a cost of more than $20 million.
A portion of that estimated cost, just under $3 million, is attributed to the projected loss of revenue from handgun permits, though Gibbons argued that only a 20% reduction in permits was an “optimistic projection” if the bill passes.
An updated fiscal note for the legislation is not available on the General Assembly’s website.
Gibbons said the local crime commission voted unanimously to oppose that portion of the legislation.
Memphis Police Department Director Michael Rallings also spoke against the legislation, which he said “makes Memphis less safe and our police officers more vulnerable.”
“I am not against guns,” Rallings said. “I am against illegal guns and guns being used against kids and to harm and kill law-abiding citizens.”
He noted the ongoing increase in violent crime in his city. Rallings asserted that the state should instead focus on continuing to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, and if lawmakers are bent on passing the measure, push it to the next session to allow time for more work on the bill.
“More guns, I’ve never seen it equal less crime,” he said.
Lamberth repeatedly defended the measure, arguing that it would not result in an increase in crime.
Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-jonesborough, carried the bill.
“The state of Tennessee has infringed on my constitutional right by requiring a permit,” Van Huss said of the the state’s established permitting system.
Carol Frazier and Linda Mcfadyenketchum from Moms Demand Action, a gun control lobbying group, also spoke against the bill, as well as Stryker Warren, a health care executive from Nashville. DJ Parten, the Southeast regional director for the National Association for Guns Rights, spoke in favor of it.
Last year, the legislature passed a bill allowing individuals to opt to take a much shorter online class to receive a basic permit, rather than an all-day in person course.