NASHVILLE – Beginning Jan. 1, Tennesseans can qualify for a new state-issued “concealed carry” handgun permit simply by watching a 90-minute online training video, with no requirement for live firearms training.
The law, which still requires applicants to pass a criminal background check, is a dramatic overhaul of the state’s nearly 24-year-old handgun carry permit law.
It’s one of 18 laws passed this year by the General Assembly that go into effect in 2020. And it’s easily the most controversial.
Tennessee’s existing handgun carry permit law now allows some 631,000 people ages 21 and older to carry a handgun either openly or concealed in public. It requires they take eight hours of training, including live-fire training.
The new law creates a two-tiered permitting system.