Tennessee is a pretty pro-gun state, despite some people's best efforts. Even a special session designed to pass gun control failed to do anything except paint a few lefties as unhinged morons.
And now, a couple of laws that weren't pro-gun have been smacked down.
It seems strange that these were even a thing in a state like Tennessee, but a lot of gun control laws have their roots in the same past that had most of the South voting Democrat.
On August 22, 2025, a three-judge panel (the “court”) in Tennessee declared Tennessee’s intent to go armed statute unconstitutional. The court also declared Tennessee’s statute that prohibits carrying firearms in parks to be unconstitutional.
Tennessee’s “intent to go armed” statute is contained in Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307(a)(1) which provides “A person commits an offense who carries, with the intent to go armed, a firearm or a club.” The statute makes it a criminal offense to carry any firearm at any time and at any place, including a person’s on property or in their own home, “with the intent to go armed.” Thus, an officer would have reasonable cause to believe a crime is being committed just by observing a person carry or wearing a firearm – even in their own yard. That reasonable cause justifies an officer in stopping, detaining, questioning, charging or arresting the individual for that crime. The statutes do provide certain affirmative defenses, such as the individual had a handgun permit or that they were in their own home, but those defenses do not shield the individual from being stopped, questioned or arrested. Indeed, Tennessee law currently puts the burden on the individual to raise and demonstrate those defenses at trial.
Recognizing the statute’s function, the court’s ruling stated “As such, the Going Armed Statute criminalizes conduct within the scope of the Second Amendment as discussed above. Such conduct is presumed to be constitutionally protected—in other words, this statute is presumed to be unconstitutional—unless Defendants can demonstrate that regulation of carrying a weapon with the intent to go armed is within the historical tradition of this nation.”
Turning to the arguments by Defendants Gov. Lee and Attorney General Skrmetti, which the court rejected, the court stated “Defendants’ arguments to the contrary are unpersuasive because they make no defense of nor even address the constitutional infirmity at the heart of the statute—the criminalization of the constitutional right to bear arms. . . . Defendants do not satisfy their flipped burden under Bruen and have in no way demonstrated a plainly legitimate sweep for proscribing in toto, subject to narrow exceptions in subsequent subsections, the right to bear arms.”
The judge used similar reasoning to overturn a law that prohibited certain firearms in parks, which the state attorney general said included things like handguns.
Look, the big problem with the "intent to go armed" law is that Tennessee is a constitutional carry state. It's perfectly legal to be armed. Yet this statute allowed law enforcement to use that as reasonable cause in treating someone as a criminal. That's insane. That's like saying walking into a store is probable cause that you're shoplifting.
It's great that this has been overturned, and it will hopefully die there, but I find it troubling that this was still in the law to begin with. That should have been nullified when permitless carry passed in the state. It should have been understood that if it was still on the books, someone would be inclined to use it for that purpose, and if the right to keep and bear arms is a right, then bearing arms in and of itself cannot be probable cause that a crime is being committed.
It's inane.
Luckily, at least for now, it's past tense.
It's probably a good idea for lawmakers throughout the nation to take a look at their state statutes to make sure nothing like this got missed when they passed constitutional carry.
And if they haven't, well, then they need to help get better colleagues so they can fix that right away.
