Fiscal Summary

Increase State Expenditures - $62,000/Incarceration* Other Fiscal Impact - The Attorney General will be fiscally impacted by the bill from prosecuting violations of Title 4, Chapter 54 and for challenging federal actions prohibited under Title 4, Chapter 54. However, it is not possible to determine a precise fiscal impact due to a number of unknown factors such as the number of proceedings, the length of the proceedings, etc.

Bill Summary

This bill expands and revises the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act (the Act), as described below.

This bill specifies that any federal action would be deemed an intentional violation of state sovereignty and would be unenforceable within the borders of the state if the federal action does or attempts to:

(1) Infringe on, ban, regulate, or restrict state government, local government or civilian ownership, transfer, possession or manufacture of a firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition in this state;
(2) Require any state government, local government or civilian owned firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition in this state to be registered or tracked in any manner; or
(3) Impose federal taxes, fees or other charges on any state government, local government or civilian owned firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition that are payable to any government entity.

This bill makes it a Class B felony for a person to knowingly enforce or attempt to enforce any federal action prohibited by the Act, as revised by this bill, relating to a state government, local government or civilian owned firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition.

This bill authorizes the attorney general to enforce the Act by seeking judicial determinations to invalidate or nullify federal action prohibited by the Act or which may otherwise violate the United States constitution. If the attorney general fails or refuses to provide such defense, then a Tennessee citizen may petition a circuit or chancery court in this state to select and appoint special counsel, with the appointment based on a showing of good cause and necessity. If the petition is granted, the costs of the petition, including court costs and reasonable attorney's fees, would be awarded to the petitioner and against the state.

The attorney general may prosecute violations of the Act, as revised by this bill, and defend the state against such violations. However, each district attorney general in this state would have concurrent authority to investigate and prosecute such violations relative to federal prosecutions or enforcement actions arising within their respective jurisdictions.

Generally, under present law, a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in this state and that remains within the borders of this state is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce, except that this provision does not apply to certain firearms and ammunition, including any firearm that discharges two or more projectiles with one activation of the trigger or other firing device. This bill revises this provision to instead specify that such in-state firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition would not be subject to any federal action prohibited by the Act, as revised by this bill, and to specify that this provision would apply to any firearm that discharges two or more projectiles with one activation of the trigger or other firing device.

Present law requires that any firearm manufactured or sold in this state under the Act have the words "Made in Tennessee" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame. This bill instead requires that any such firearm have the words "Made in Tennessee" clearly stamped, engraved or otherwise permanently added to the receiver or frame.