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Plan To Cut Penalties For Illegal Guns Quashed In Tennessee Legislature

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A Senate committee declined to take up a measure that would've prevented police from seizing guns from people who carry without a permit. Credit: Robert Nelson via Flickr
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A measure that would have slashed the penalties for carrying a handgun illegally has died in the state legislature.

The Tennessee Senate’s Judiciary quietly killed Senate Bill 2427 on Wednesday by declining to take it up for debate.

The proposal had suggested cutting in half the penalty for having a handgun without a valid license and would have eliminated the threat of jail time. The maximum penalty would instead have been a $250 fine. Police also would not have been allowed to confiscate a gun that was being carried illegally.

Law enforcement, gun control groups and the governor’s office all opposed the measure. It nevertheless passed the state House of Representatives earlier this month.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee offered no explanation for quashing the measure.

Filed Under: Politics, WPLN News Tagged With: ,

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Chas Sisk, Senior Editor

Chas joined WPLN in 2015 and became an editor in 2018. Previously, he covered state politics for Nashville Public Radio and The Tennessean, and he’s also reported on communities, politics and business for a variety of publications in Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C. Chas grew up in South Carolina and attended Columbia University, where he studied economics and journalism.

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