Gun Laws
Gun crimes and deaths are rising in Tennessee.
How important is public safety to you?
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Gun Laws
Gun Laws
Over the past few decades, the gun industry and special-interest groups like the NRA—once focused on gun education, safety, and marksmanship—have had a strong influence on some American lawmakers, promoting the idea that regulating guns violates the Second Amendment.
In 1991, the late Warren Burger, a conservative US Supreme Court justice appointed by President Richard Nixon, said, “The gun lobby’s interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud—I repeat the word fraud—on the American people by special-interest groups that I have seen in my lifetime.”
The NRA and the Tennessee Firearms Association donate to lawmakers who prioritize and protect the interests of the gun industry.
Do you want commonsense gun laws in Tennessee?
Do you always vote?
Do your votes match your views?
TAKE OUR QUIZ
DO YOU THINK easier access to guns makes our homes, schools, and neighborhoods safer?
DID YOU KNOW:
There’s a strong correlation between easy access to guns and gun violence.
Statistics show that people who live in states with stronger gun laws are less likely to die by gun violence. Some of the weakest gun laws in the country and the third-highest rate of violent crime have made Tennessee a dangerous place to live. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ranked Tennessee one of the top states for gun deaths. Between 2011 and 2021, as Tennessee systematically loosened its gun laws, the rate of gun deaths of minor children increased 180%.
Do you think state lawmakers should create basic gun regulations based on solid research?
DO YOU THINK gun owners in Tennessee should be required to store their firearms safely when they’re not in use?
DID YOU KNOW:
Tennessee does not have a safe storage law. State lawmakers have refused to pass one.
Twenty-six states have safe storage laws that make gun owners criminally liable if their negligence or reckless storage of a firearm results in an injury or death. These laws are especially effective for keeping guns out of the hands of children or suicidal people. Between 70% and 90% of guns used by children in suicides, unintentional shootings, and school shootings came from the child’s home or the home of a relative.
A 2014 state law allowing Tennesseans to store guns in their cars has led to a rash of gun thefts from cars in Tennessee—they more than doubled between 2017 and 2022. Memphis and Chattanooga have the highest rate of gun thefts in the country, and Nashville and Jackson, TN, are in the top 15.
Do you think Tennesseans should have some legal responsibilty for keeping their firearms secure?
DO YOU THINK someone should have to pass a basic firearm-safety course to carry a gun in public?
DID YOU KNOW:
Tennessee used to require safety training to carry a handgun. Our state lawmakers dropped the requirement and may drop it for all firearms.
In 2021, the Tennessee General Assembly dropped the requirement for anyone age 21 or older to take a gun-safety course to carry a handgun, even though police and sheriff departments warned that “permitless carry” would make their jobs and our neighborhoods more dangerous. Law enforcement and elected leaders in Shelby County have since asked the TGA to end permitless carry there. Instead, TGA has been considering expanding permitless carry to include 18-to-20-year-olds and all firearms, such as assault rifles.
Does it seem sensible to you that Tennesseans can now carry a gun without any permit or training?
DO YOU THINK someone should have to pass a background check to buy a gun?
DID YOU KNOW:
Because of a loophole in state law, it’s easy to get a firearm in Tennessee without a background check.
Tennessee doesn’t require background checks for private sales and the sale of firearm at guns shows when the purchase is made from a private individual. (About 30% of guns involved in criminal trafficking are connected to gun shows.) According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, states that require background checks for private sales have 48% fewer suicides by gun, while the rates of suicide by other methods are nearly identical.
Johns Hopkins University researchers found that the 2007 repeal of Missouri’s background check requirement was associated with a 25% increase in gun homicides. Surveys have shown that 88% of Americans, including 85% of gun owners, want universal background checks on gun sales.
Do you think background checks can be effective when there's a legal loophole to avoid them?
DO YOU THINK someone who’s an immediate danger to themselves or others should temporarily lose access to firearms?
DID YOU KNOW:
Tennessee’s governor supports the idea, but Tennessee’s legislature does not.
More than half of gun deaths are suicides, and more than half of suicides involve a gun. While it’s far more common for people to attempt suicide by overdosing, only 2% to 3% of overdose attempts are fatal, as opposed to 85% to 95% of attempted suicides by firearm.
Perhaps because of his own daughter's experience with attempted suicide by firearm, Gov. Bill Lee has expressed support for an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) or “red flag” law, which allows a judge to temporarily and constitutionally remove guns from someone who poses an immediate threat to themselves or others. Provisions in ERPO laws, such as criminal penalties for lying, are intended to keep an angry spouse or family member from abusing them. Family-initiated ERPOs are supported by 80% of adults, including more than 70% of gun owners and Republicans. The District of Columbia and 22 states have some form of ERPO in place.
Most Tennesseans support red flag laws. But the Republican majority in the Tennessee State House has called the idea "a nonstarter."
Do you think Tennesseans have the right to better protection from mentally unstable people with firearms?
If you want gun sense in Tennessee,
VOTE FOR IT.
If you want gun sense in Tennessee,
VOTE FOR IT.
Don’t miss an election! Vote for candidates who aren't afraid to stand up to the gun industry and who will support public safety with commonsense gun laws.
If more Tennesseans voted every two years (in every presidential and midterm election), we could replace our governor and entire state legislature every four years.
Between 2020 and 2022, Tennessee had the lowest average voter turnout in the country. In the 2020 presidential election, just 74.3% of Tennesseans of voting age were registered to vote, and only 66.4% actually voted. In the 2022 midterm election, just 67.4% of Tennesseans of voting age were registered to vote, and only 44.5% actually voted.
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