Committee Recommends Four New Guns Bills

A study committee is recommending that the General Assembly pass four new gun measures, including one that would allow guns to be carried into restaurants which serve alcohol.

One would allow handgun permit holders to carry their guns into restaurants — as long as the restaurant closes at eleven p.m. Representative Joe McCord of Maryville chairs the study committee. He says the committee is trying stay away from guns in bars.

“This is an attempt to truly try to get at restaurant carry, and get away from what you and I may consider bars.”

A second bill would make the list of who has a handgun permit secret.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal recently published a list of permit holders. McCord says that kicked off a flurry of calls to legislative offices,

“Every time this occurs, it occurs once every two years or so, there is a mass uproar from the public, and this is just an attempt to say, ‘We have heard your… desires and we’re trying to address them.”

The other two measures would allow permit holders to carry their guns into wildlife management areas and state parks.

More than 218,000 Tennesseans have a handgun carry permit.

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McCord says the bills will be before the House Civil Practice Subcommittee next week.

McCord may have chaired the House study committee that made the recommendations, but says he won’t be sponsoring any of the bills.

The bills will have to gain the approval of the Judiciary committee in each house.

McCord says the measure to allow permit holders to carry their guns into wildlife management areas will probably have to be amended in full standing committee to mesh with hunting regulations.

“We are working with the TWRA [Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency] on this.”

As for the state parks measure, McCord points to a new federal regulation which allows such carry-permit guns in national parks.

As for the state parks measure, McCord points to a new federal regulation which allows such carry-permit guns in national parks.

For a look at the range of bills which affect handguns click here.

The Commercial Appeal put the state list of permittees on its website.

The Tennessee Department of Safety was required by law to make the names public. Their explanation is here.

For a list of counties and how many handgun permits are valid in each, click here.