Tennessee Firearms Assoc. Inc.

After the Nashville chapter meeting of a month or two ago, I was feeling pretty pessimistic about getting a good bill (to deal with our ability to carry in places where alcohol is served) out of the legislature this year…it just didn’t seem likely; given the declining time line and an assumed veto to get the bill out, vetoed and the veto overturned before the legislature left for the year. One of the reasons that especially bothered me was that I expected that if the issue wasn’t settled this year it would (and should be) and one of the central pieces of firearms related legislation worked on in 2011 (pushing other issues to the back burner). Now, thankfully, it looks like we WILL get that bill into law!

That said, one of the issues that I was afraid would once again be pushed to the back burner and one I now hope that TFA will work toward this coming legislative year is legislation that will allow permit holders to not have to drive to and from our work unarmed! I’ve referring, of course, to those companies that do not even allow employees to leave otherwise legally carried firearms in their locked vehicles while those vehicles are parked in company owned parking lots during the workday/night; effectively forcing those employees to go unarmed to/from their place of work as well as to/from anywhere they may need to travel after work unless they have time to first, go home and then to their after work activity.

I don’t begrudge the right of a business to say that I can’t bring my firearm into my office in their office building (manufacturing plant, etc.) and in fact I’m very supportive of property owners’ rights. However, I see little to no justification for their property rights to extend to the inside my private vehicle.

This, perhaps, may not be the most pressing issue facing gun owners in Tennessee but I think it’s one that is well worth our attention!

I agree. This is something that needs to get done.

The best hope to achieve this is to put a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment in the Governor's Mansion, and then surround him with the same type Representatives and Senators.

Vote 2010 is so very important!

I believe there is a pending bill dealing with this topic that comes up in summer study this year (again)...

Wow,

So you are saying that since my employer does not allow firearms on the premisis even though it is clearly not posted that I could lose my permit if they find I should have a gun in my car? That dont seem fair to me.

No shooter, not your permit, just your job.

This won't help me, since I teach in a public school, but I hope it passes for those whom it will help.

falcon1,

This needs to be changed also. We should be able to take our handguns on to school property as long as they remain in the vehicle. My wife is a teacher and I have young children in school.

When can we get a group together to address the same issue for permit holders who attend universities? I commute from Nashville to Clarksville to attend Austin Peay; and since guns are banned on campus they are also not allowed to be locked inside private vehicles. So the law excludes my right to defend myself while traveling to and from school.

Is Austin Peay "posted" or is it just common knowledge that guns aren't allowed on campus?

Assuming you do carry and leave your gun in your locked vehicle, do they have any standing to demand to search your vehicle (i.e.; do students give agree to such things as part the conditions of being accepted as a student)?

If the school and grounds and parking lots aren't specifically and legally posted to disallow firearms then I would suspect that the worst the school could "do" to a student would be to expel him/her but in reality, unless they can expel the student for refusing to let them search the student's vehicle, I don't see how the issue would become an issue (i.e., unless you broadcast that you have a gun in your locked vehicle; how would they even know to ask to search in the first place???).

I guess this is why I made my initial post - rational, reasonable people know that a gun sitting in a locked vehicle is not going to harm anyone; guns don't suddenly get up and start shooting people anymore than a hammer will get up off a tool bench and start pounding nails (I will add, however, that I do have a "safe" in my vehicle to hold my firearm on those occasions when I leave it to lessen the chance of it being stolen). Since such firearms aren't a threat, there is no rational reason why anyone who can legally possess and/or carry a firearm shouldn't be able to leave his/her weapon in a locked vehicle anywhere a vehicle is parked including parking lots of workplaces, stores/shopping malls, school grounds, college campuses, government buildings etc. even if those buildings/facilities are posted against carry/possession of firearms in those facilities.

Such a change to the law seems to me to recognize and protect both the rights of individual citizens to the tools to protect themselves while allowing businesses/employers, etc their property rights.

Let's hope this gets addressed this upcoming session!

So am I understanding correctly...

If I'm an adult and can otherwise legally carry, I can have and/or leave my weapon in my vehicle without violating the law but if I'm a student; I don't have the same protection from violating the law??? Am I the only one who thinks that a crock of pure bovine scatology?

Apparently non-students have the right to protect themselves; students don't.

Another thing that has always bothered me about TCA 39-17-1309: if you read it closely, the exception for non-student adults applies to the misdemeanor charge, not to the felony. Since there is not in TCA, at least so far as I know, a legal definition of what constitutes "intent to go armed," one is at the mercy of the officer, prosecutor, and judge. Talk about "unconstitutionally vague": can we get Chancellor Bonnyman to throw this one out too?

I've been advised by an attorney that, when I am at college to pick up my son, lock the unloaded firearm in one container before I enter campus; lock all of the ammunition in yet another; and keep a very low profile. For this, I find that revolvers are best.