Tennessee Governor Bill Lee speaks on protecting Americas seniors from the COVID-19 pandemic in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC on April 30, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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UPDATED 10:15 AM PT – Saturday, April 10, 2021
Tennessee became the latest state to abolish permit requirements for concealed or open carry. On Thursday, GOP Governor Bill Lee (R) signed the bill, which permits any Tennessean 21 and older to carry a handgun without a permit.
I signed constitutional carry today because it shouldn’t be hard for law-abiding Tennesseans to exercise their #2A rights. Thank you members of the General Assembly and @NRA for helping get this done. pic.twitter.com/xv2ZenOEZq
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) April 8, 2021
The law also allows military members in the state ages 18-to-20 to open or concealed carry under the law. The new legislation does not apply to long guns and was backed by members of the general assembly and the NRA.
NRA members and Tennessee’s law-abiding gun owners thank @GovBillLee, Rep. @WilliamLamberth, and @SenMikeBell, for their hard work and leadership on this vital piece of self-defense legislation.
— NRA (@NRA) April 8, 2021
Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers have continued to fight for Second Amendment rights as Biden pushes for stricter gun control laws.
“If D.C. or the White House starts to do a gun grab or anything that we would view in the state that is something that is unconstitutional or goes against what we as a state believe is our gun rights and our constitutional rights,” Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Tenn.) said. “We’ll fight it as hard as we can with everything we have.”
The bill also calls for harsher punishments when it comes to certain gun crimes, such as boosting theft of a firearm from a misdemeanor to a felony.
The law will go into effect on July 1.
