From arming teachers to a red flag law: Your guide to the gun bills before TN lawmakers

As the Tennessee General Assembly kicked off its 2024 session on Jan. 9, several Tennessee advocacy group traveled to the Capitol to urge lawmakers to focus on their defining issues: guns.

The Covenant School shooting last March sparked ongoing protests and bipartisan calls for gun safety reform, an issue that largely defined the end of the 2023 legislative session and an unproductive August special session Gov. Bill Lee called for broad public safety issues.

The thousands-strong protests of last spring have distilled to smaller advocacy groups pushing for reform, but the issue is still likely to play a major role in the 2024 session.

By mid-January, lawmakers had already filed more than a dozen firearm-related bills, and they can continue to file legislation through the end of January.

Here's a look at some of the most notable.

Allowing armed teachers at schools

HB 1202, a bill that would allow school staff to carry concealed handguns on campus, could emerge as high-profile legislation early in the 2024 session. It is a holdover from 2023 and could be poised for a full House vote at nearly any time.

Rep. Ryan Williams, R-Cookeville, filed the bill in January 2023, but it drew wider criticism following the Covenant shooting from gun-reform advocates and some educators who argued more guns on campus would further endanger students.

In April, a group of protesters, including educators, packed the House gallery to hear debate on the bill, but it was quickly tabled on the House floor. The move effectively stalled the legislation for 2023 but kept it alive for the 2024 session.

In the House, the bill is still in position for a full floor vote almost immediately: Williams would need to make a motion to bring back the bill, and it could be added to the calendar for the next floor session. It has further to go in the Senate, where it still has to go through the committee process.

The bill was rolled to the Senate Judiciary Committee calendar on Jan. 23. Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, is the chair and has wielded the committee as a chokepoint for firearm-related legislation since last April amid ongoing disagreements between the two chambers.

Creating gun violence prevention office

SB 1693, sponsored by Sen. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, would create a state gun violence prevention office within the Tennessee Department of Safety. The office would be tasked with collecting data on gun violence with an aim at developing prevention strategies.

Akbari does not yet have a House sponsor for the proposal.

Gun policies for private schools

HB 1631 would amend current law to explicitly allow private schools to adopt a handgun carry policy on school property. The bill's Republican sponsors, Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, and Sen. Joey Hensely, R-Hohenwald, say it would clarify existing state law that allows private schools serving kindergarten through 12th grade to adopt a handgun carry policy.

The new bill would amend the language to include schools with pre-kindergarten grades.

Gun death report

HB 1711 from Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Nashville, would direct the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to produce a quarterly report on children's deaths related to gun violence. The legislation does not yet have a Senate sponsor, as of Jan. 19.

Meanwhile, Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, filed Senate Bill 1657, which would require the Department of Health to compile an annual report on firearms injuries and death. House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, is sponsoring the House version of the bill.

Safe storage requirements

HB 1667 authorizes local governments to regulate gun storage in unoccupied vehicles. The proposal, first filed by Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, would apply only to counties with a population over 98,800.

Republicans have so far resisted efforts to enact safe storage requirements statewide. Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, is the senate sponsor.

Thousands of guns are stolen each year in Tennessee. In Nashville, for instance, 1,203 guns were reported stolen from vehicles in 2023, the Metro Nashville Police Department said. That represents more than three-quarters of all the guns stolen in the city.

Red flag law

SB 1652 by Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, would establish a risk protection order, oftentimes referred to as a red flag law. Under the legislation, a court could issue an order "upon a finding by clear and convincing evidence that a person poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to the person or others if allowed to possess or purchase a firearm." Law enforcement would petition for the order.

The Republican supermajority has continually resisted efforts on the issue. A proposal by Gov. Bill Lee to establish an emergency protective order law never got introduced last year amid the GOP push back.

Campbell, along with Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Nashville, has filed a slew of other gun-related legislation, including SB 1654, which creates a Class A misdemeanor for knowingly giving or otherwise providing a gun to a person known to be prohibited from owning a gun by law.

SB 1655 would require convicted domestic abusers to provide the court with documentation that they have given up their firearms to a third party. Tennessee law currently requires an convicted abuser give up their firearms, but there is no enforcement mechanism to ensure they do so.

Firearm 'hold' agreements

SB 1697 from Sen. Page Walley, R-Savannah, would establish a private transactional system between gun owners and licensed federal firearms dealers. The firearm "hold agreement" would allow gun owners to give their firearms to a dealer to hold for an agreed upon period. Rep. Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville, is the House sponsor.

Gun prohibition for incompetent defendants

HB 1640 would block criminal defendants who are deemed mentally incompetent and unable to stand trial from legally buying or possessing a gun. House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, filed the legislation, which would require courts to report the incompetency findings to the FBI and Tennessee Department of Safety.

The bill would also require the criminal defendant found incompetent to be committed to a facility for mental health treatment. Lamberth cited the 2023 shooting death of Jillian Ludwig when filing the legislation.

Ludwig, a Belmont University freshman, was killed by a stray bullet fired by Shaquille Taylor, who had previously been deemed incompetent to stand trial for another violent crime but did not meet the standards for involuntary commitment.

“This closes a loophole that puts the public’s safety at serious risk by allowing dangerous individuals back into society to languish and re-offend without receiving the appropriate mental health services and supervision they desperately need," Lamberth said, citing the shooting death of Jillian Ludwig last year.

Firearm theft penalties

Several bills aim to address skyrocketing firearm theft rates through increased penalties.

Rep. John Gillespie, R-Memphis, filed HB 1720 to increase firearm theft to a Class C felony, which can carry three to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, SB 1703 would automatically transfer teenagers aged 14-16 into adult criminal court for the offense of theft of a firearm.

Tennessee already put in place stiffer penalties for theft of a firearm in 2021 when they passed permitless carry. Lawmakers increased the penalty for stealing a gun from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail.

Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee politics: Debates on red flag laws to gun safety bills