Unless and until Tennessee legislators provide more than anecdotal evidence that the current $500 fine and possible jail time for being an unlicensed handgun carrier should be reduced and eliminated, respectively, we don't see a need for making a change in the law.
Unfortunately, the measure sponsored by Rep. Micah Van Huss, R-Gray, passed the state House, 72-20, Monday. We doubt if the Senate will stop it, either.
Let's face it. Five hundred dollars isn't a lot of money these days, but it's enough to make some people who might carelessly carry a gun think twice about it. Or perhaps it would cause them to purchase a gun permit, which is not hard to get (Driver Service Center locations), is not expensive ($100 for eight years) and doesn't require a lot of hoops to jump through (applicants must be 21, residents of Tennessee and U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents).
The current law says violators of the Class C misdemeanor also can be sentenced to up to 30 days in jail, a punishment reportedly rarely implemented.
"It's usually an offense charged with other crimes," Melydia Clewell, a spokeswoman for Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston, said in an email. "We see it most often as an additional offense to felonies (violent and/or drugs cases) and DUIs. It's typically dismissed during plea agreements unless the defendant is a violent offender."
Legislators who support dropping the fine to $250 and cutting out the possible jail time say the bill will help protect families and won't prevent citizens from stopping attacks.
To that, we say bunk. We don't believe anyone trying to protect their family or prevent a mass shooting is going to stop and weigh the situation: "Uh, this might mean a $500 fine. That's a lot of money, even to protect my loved ones. If the fine was just $250, I'd protect them for sure."
Clewell said the attorney general's office rarely sees the charge as a stand-alone offense.
"But when we do," she said in the email, "it's usually because someone forgot to take a gun out of a suitcase before going to the airport. If it's an honest mistake, we dismiss the case."
On the other side, legislators say - also anecdotally - that police use the law to get more guns that would be used in other crimes off the street. If they do, and there are records to show it, the opposing legislators should be trumpeting those statistics.
That is especially important since the bill prevents police from seizing an unlicensed gun on first offense. But, perhaps as a consolation prize, House members passed an amendment to allow police to take the ammunition from the gun.
It did not, however, prevent the gun owner from going home or to a retail outlet to get more ammunition.
Not surprisingly, the Haslam administration and other law enforcement agencies have concerns about the bill, believing the lighter fine and lack of jail time will convince even more people they don't need a permit to carry their gun.
We'd like to see relevant figures about gun seizures by those who oppose the measure, but on the whole we don't see a reason for changing the law.