Gun tileNASHVILLE – Senators today approved a bill shutting off wholesale public access to the state’s handgun-carry permit records, which mostly would make confidential the names of nearly 400,000 Tennesseans authorized to carry loaded firearms in public.
The bill passed 27-2. The House last month passed the measure, but senators added an amendment.
It allows “any person or entity” to ask the Tennessee Department of Safety to search the permit database to see if a specific person has a permit. The requester would have to present a “court conviction judgment, criminal history report, order of protection or other official government document or record that indicates the named person is not eligible to possess a gun-carry permit.”
That forces the bill back to the House.
“This is a bill to prevent the publication of handgun-carry permit holders in the news media where their names and addresses are put on a map,” said Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, the bill’s sponsor.