Tennessee knife laws 2013

[brandonnash]

Been trying to figure out what happened with sb1015. It looks like it made it past the house and senate and just a few days ago the governor signed it into law. My question is what was the amendment they snuck in at the last minute? The original bill stated that the switchblade law would be repealed and the 4" carry bam would be lifted also. From what I read they did not lift the switchblade but I am trying to figure out if they did or not.

Any Tennessee folks out there that know for sure what happened?

 

[glistam]

The summary is here: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/billinfo/BillSummaryArchive.aspx?BillNumber=SB1015&ga=108

There were two amendments. The first was that switchblades should still be illegal on school property. The second institutes preemption, meaning all county and city laws placing restrictions on knives to a great extent than the state law are now void. That is awesome! I hope my state passes a law like that soon.

 

[brandonnash]

Thanks for finding that! I am now in the market for an auto!

 

[Critter]

Thanks for finding that! I am now in the market for an auto!

Not exactly. The interpretation above is incorrect. Preemption was passed, the repeal of Tennessee's restrictions was not included. That will have to wait until next year.

http://www.kniferights.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=216&Itemid=1

 

[brandonnash]

So the passed bill did nothing except prevent new very local laws?

 

[Critter]

So the passed bill did nothing except prevent new very local laws?

Well, to begin with, your response is incorrect on a couple levels. First, the preemption law that was passed not only prevents any new regulations, laws or ordinances more restrictive than state law, it also voids all such existing ones. We have received numerous emails and calls thanking us for that from those who have had to deal with such issues.

Second, knife law preemption is the cornerstone of our legislative activity. It is key to improving things for the majority of knife owners. When we don't have preemption, whatever we accomplish at the state level can be undone at the local level. Without preemption, knife owners are confronted with a often confusing array of local restrictions that can trap the unwary. Preemption also ensures that we can concentrate our efforts at the state level and whatever ewe fix there is fixed for all. Getting Preemption passed is a big deal, even if it isn't all you might have hoped for.

While we would have liked to get it all done in one bill, that didn't happen this year. We are very pleased to have gotten preemption done and out of the way. And, just so you can have some perspective, 3 of the states in which we successfully passed legislation this year were states where last year we didn't succeed in getting our bills passed. It took two years to get done. That's the way it works sometimes. Persistence is often what it takes.

We will be back next year to finish off the job.

 

[Feuer686]

Great news and thanks for the clarification Critter.

 

[brandonnash]

So what amount of money exchanged hands to get the brunt of the bill removed? It passed at all levels and would have passed at all levels without taking those bits out. It may have not been the grand majority as before but still would have passed.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad the bit that did make it thru did pass, but not happy at the overall outcome of it. Thank you for the explanation. Just upsetting to find out that being close to pulling the trigger on a nice auto that I will have to wait for probably at least another year.

This all stemming from a federal law that was bogus from the onset.

 

[Critter]

So what amount of money exchanged hands to get the brunt of the bill removed? It passed at all levels and would have passed at all levels without taking those bits out. It may have not been the grand majority as before but still would have passed.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad the bit that did make it thru did pass, but not happy at the overall outcome of it. Thank you for the explanation. Just upsetting to find out that being close to pulling the trigger on a nice auto that I will have to wait for probably at least another year.

This all stemming from a federal law that was bogus from the onset.

While your supposition that it would have passed is likely correct, that was our assessment, it never came to a vote because we were bushwacked by the Tennessee Sheriff's Association at the last minute after it had been improperly assigned to the wrong committee whose chairman and members didn't have the backbone to stand up to them or their executive director who outright lied in testimony. Why the leadership of the TSA opposed the bill is not clear, but from our discussion with many other Sheriffs in TN, they don't support the leadership's position. We hope to fix that before next year, but regardless, now that we know, we will be prepared to deal with it.

And, just to get the historical record right, not positive about Tennessee, but in most cases the state switchblade bans were passed prior to the Federal law, which doesn't make it any less absurd.