Tennessee Gun Laws

Tennessee is a “shall issue” state when it comes to issuing gun permits. This means that, as long as you qualify to carry a weapon and have fulfilled the permit requirements, the Department of Safety and Homeland Security will issue you a permit. 

Presently, if you are a citizen who fits requirements for age and eligibility, you do not have to have a background for permission to open or concealed carry.

As of January, 2020, that former permit is now called an “enhanced handgun permit”. With a $100 registration fee and an eight-hour in-class session, eligible Tennesseans may qualify for the concealed or open enhanced carry permit. Those wishing to obtain this permit must pass both a written and a hands-on firing test.

However, the new 2020 permit makes it easier to obtain a concealed carry permit. The cost is only $65 plus the cost of a ninety-minute online course. There is no attendance or live-fire component required. A check or firearms registration required when buying a handgun from a private individual. 

If you have Tennessee’s enhanced Handgun Permit, you can open or concealed carry. You can also open carry without a permit as long as the weapon you are carrying is not loaded and the ammunition is not near the handgun.

In Tennessee, you must be at least eighteen to apply for a permit, buy or open carry a weapon.

Some areas of Tennessee do not allow guns. Government buildings, education facilities, and  hospitals.

With an enhanced permit, you can carry on college or university campuses.

With an enhanced or the new concealed carry permit created with the passage of Senate Bill 705, you may concealed carry as long as you are twenty-one and qualify to own a handgun.

The enhanced Handgun Carry Permit is still available. It requires successful completion of an eight-hour in-class and live training course. The class must be conducted by a certified instructor. Having obtained the enhanced HCP permit, Tennessee residents can both open and concealed carry.

The HCP permit may also be applied for by non-residents. But they must be seen as working regularly in the state of Tennessee in order to qualify for seeking the HCP enhanced concealed or open carry permit and they can’t apply until they have worked at least half a year in Tennessee. Furthermore, if they do not make this application within six months of that initial half-year work period, they may not apply as non-residents. 

According to the new Concealed Carry Reciprocity legislation, the state of Tennessee will honor the concealed carry permits of other states.

The state of Tennessee is a Castle Doctrine state. The laws and enforcement officers acknowledge “stand your ground” when it comes to self-protection and protecting your property.

If you are in a location legally and you are not engaged in an illegal activity, you have every right to refuse to retreat. You can legally use force and threatening actions that could cause serious bodily injury or death. These conditions must apply:

• You believe you are in imminent danger. You feel threatened with injury or death. This perceived danger is not imagined. You honestly believe your life is in danger.
• There are reasonable grounds for believing this danger to you, your family, your home, business, or vehicle actually exists. 

The new concealed carry permit issued by the Tennessee state Department of Homeland Security will make it easier and perhaps less costly for Tennesseans to acquire a concealed carry permit.

Click here to learn more about Tennessee state laws.