Tennessee does not require a permit to carry an openly or concealed handgun in public.¹ Tennessee also expressly allows a person to carry any firearm, loaded or unloaded, in a lawfully possessed motor vehicle or boat if he or she is not prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm.²

Tennessee expressly forbids any law or any ordinance or resolution adopted by the governing body of a city, county, or metropolitan government that prohibits or regulates the possession, transportation, or storage of a firearm or firearm ammunition while on or utilizing any public or private parking area. The person’s motor vehicle must be parked in a location where it is permitted to be; and the firearm or ammunition being transported or stored in the motor vehicle must be kept from ordinary observation if the person is in the motor vehicle; or kept from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, glove box, or interior of the person’s motor vehicle or a container securely affixed to the motor vehicle if the person is not in the motor vehicle.³

Tennessee allows entities that tow vehicles or store towed vehicles to remove firearms left in a stored vehicle if doing so would not damage the vehicle. Any firearms removed from a vehicle in this way must be securely stored until retrieved by their owner.⁴

Tennessee law prohibits public post-secondary institutions from taking any adverse or disciplinary action against an employee or student of that institution solely for such person’s transportation and storage of a firearm or firearm ammunition in compliance with state law while on or using a parking area located on property owned, used, or operated by the post-secondary institution.⁵

Tennessee law also restricts employers from prohibiting their employees from transporting or storing a firearm or firearm ammunition in an employer parking area if the firearm or ammunition is otherwise lawfully stored in compliance with the section above.⁶

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1. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307(a), (g).[↩]
2. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-17-1307(e).[↩]
3. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1313(a).[↩]
4. Tenn. Code Ann. § 66-38-101.[↩]
5. Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-7-163.[↩]
6. Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-312.[↩]