A restaurant in Bartlett, Tenn., bears a sign specifically allowing concealed carry. Image courtesy Tennessee Firearms Association

This week Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey wants to push through legislation from the last session that would give gun owners a way to legally store firearms in their vehicles. Last year, the issue was so divisive among Republicans, a top-ranking lawmaker was unseated in a primary election out of retribution.

This year’s proposal sponsored by Ramsey and Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) is different in two key ways.

First, it applies only to people with handgun carry permits. Also the guns-in-trunks revamp gives immunity to property owners if someone is injured or killed because of a firearm stored on site.

The sponsors say they’re merely legalizing what is already a pervasive practice.

“Let’s be honest. There’s not a parking lot in Tennessee today that doesn’t have a gun inside the car,” Faison says.

Parking lots with weapons in glove boxes include the grounds of the state capitol. Faison admits to keeping firearms in his vehicle while in Nashville.

“I’m not ashamed of it. I’ll tell anybody that,” he says. “I’ll tell the highway patrol. Listen, that’s just part of life.”

Faison, however, would still be breaking the law even if his legislation passes, at least as written now. While the Cocke County representative says he’s “carried a gun all my life.” He says he’s never sent in the paperwork for his handgun permit.

“One day I’ll probably get caught if I don’t get a permit, and I’ll get in trouble,” he says.

A Quieter Gun Lobby

The National Rifle Association pushed hard for a broader guns-in-trunks bill without a permit requirement last year and demonstrated the organization’s strength in unseating Rep. Debra Maggart of Hendersonville, when the legislation never came to a vote. Governor Bill Haslam and Republican leaders like Maggart sided with big businesses like FedEx and Volkswagen who said they didn’t want firearms in their parking lots.

But the NRA has been relatively silent this year, with bigger fish to fry on the national stage. The sponsors say they have not consulted firearms lobbying groups. But the Tennessee Firearms Association says in a newsletter issued Friday, “TFA will oppose any amendments that would create exceptions.”

However, exceptions are almost certain to be proposed. Governor Haslam was not only concerned about employers when he helped block last year’s bill.

“The governor has always said his primary concern was about schools,” says spokesman Dave Smith.

Currently the legislation is a blanket bill, allowing a gun to be kept in parking lots of schools, churches and businesses.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with where you are,” Ramsey says. “It’s in your automobile. The second it comes out, you broke the law.”

The legislation is scheduled for its first committee hearing on Tuesday (Feb. 5), and it’s getting Ramsey’s full attention as one of only two bills sponsored by the Senate Speaker so far this year. The Blountville Republican says he wants to get the guns-in-trunks issue out of the way because it’s not the most important issue on the legislature’s plate.

But this is far from the only firearms legislation in the works. A list compiled by WPLN shows three-dozen bills, ranging from sealing handgun carry permit records to allowing teachers to carry a sidearm to class.