Law eliminating sales tax on gun safes in TN goes into effect
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — As of Nov. 1, there is no longer a sales tax on gun safe or lockbox purchases in Tennessee.
One of the handful of laws that passed during the August special legislative session on public safety was HB 7012.
In part, the legislation reads, “There is exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter the retail sale of firearm safes and firearm safety devices.”
While many politicians were frustrated by the outcome of the special session, The Safe House owner Mark Brasfield celebrated this accomplishment.
“Well, are you seeing the smile on my face? I mean, it can do nothing but help,” said the owner of two gun safe stores in Tennessee. “And you know, would I be not telling the truth if I didn’t say it’s helped my business? Because it has.”
He said he has seen an increase in the number of people looking to buy gun safes since the tax exemption went into effect, and some of those buyers mentioned the new law.
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“I kept telling people November 1, November 1, and I’ve just had a wave of people coming in purchasing gun safes, and I have a store in Knoxville – same thing,” he said.
Brasfield said his store in Georgia has not seen any increase in sales lately, which he takes as a sign the law is incentivizing safe storage of firearms as intended.
“[Customers] want to keep their guns away from a loved one, from someone breaking in their house or something, or they want to protect their valuables. I mean, because guns are not cheap,” he said.
However, while Brasfield has celebrated this new law, in August, mothers of children who attend The Covenant School were frustrated that more substantial gun reform didn’t make it to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.
“As a mother I’m going to have to look at my 9-year-old in the eye and tell her nothing. Our elected representatives have done nothing. Our state has done nothing to make us safer or to prevent this from happening again, and again, and again, and again,” said Mary Joyce at the end of the special session.
According to a Vanderbilt Health Poll, 87.3% of Tennessee parents say a gun should be stored in a lockbox or safe.
However, a bill to mandate safe storage never got brought to the floor.
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