Tennessee Lowers Age Requirement for Carry Permit; Complies with Court

Tennessee Capitol

On January 23, 2023, Tennessee was required by court order to allow individuals aged 18-20 to carry handguns under the Tennessee permitless carry (Constitutional Carry) law, and to obtain carry permits under the law governing the issue of handgun carry permits.

On May 8, 2025, the government of Tennessee reduced the age requirement to obtain a handgun carry permit from 21 to 18.  HB1332 became public chapter no. 356.

SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1351(b), is amended by deleting the language and substituting:

(b) Except as provided in subsection (r), any resident of Tennessee who is a United States citizen or permanent lawful resident, as defined by § 55-50-102, who has reached eighteen (18) years of age, may apply to the department of safety for a handgun carry permit. If the applicant is not prohibited from purchasing or possessing a firearm in this state pursuant to§ 39-17-1316 or§ 39-17-1307(b), 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), or any other state or federal law, and the applicant otherwise meets all of the requirements of this section, the department shall issue a permit to the applicant.

SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-17-1351(x)(1), is amended by deleting the language “twenty-one (21) years of age” and substituting “eighteen ( 18) years of age”.

SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.

Young citizens who are 18-20 years old may be in greater need of self defense than older citizens. In a South City apartment complex, four suspects hunted down two young men and killed them. From wreg.com:

Police say last Thursday, an Infiniti pulled into the South City apartment complex at Mississippi Boulevard and Lauderdale.

Surveillance video shows four suspects, all armed with guns, getting out and walking through the complex and shooting both victims multiple times, police said.

As they got back into the Infiniti, police say Patterson was shot by someone inside the apartment complex. He fell out of the car onto the ground.

Only one person at the complex shot back. The problem with denying the ability of people to legally be armed, is the law will only effect those who are interested in following the law. This idea was placed into common thought by Cesare Beccaria, who stated it thus in 1764, according to a translation:

 Laws that prohibit the carrying of arms are laws of that nature. They disarm only those who are not inclined or determined to commit crimes . . . These laws worsen the plight of the assaulted, but improve those of the assailants.They do not lessen homicides, but increase them, because the confidence of carrying out an assault against the disarmed is greater than against the armed. These laws are not preventive ones, but born out of the fear of crime.

Analysis: There are several federal court cases challenging the discrimination against young adults 18-20 years old.

There is a current split in the circuits. Some circuits claim a prohibition on the ability of 18-20 year olds from being able to exercise rights protected by the Second Amendment is not prohibited by the Second Amendment. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled the opposite. Tennessee is in the Sixth Circuit. At some point the Supreme Court will have to resolve the issue. The logic and facts are clear. At the time of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, there were no barriers to 18-20 year olds exercising rights protected by the Second Amendment.

The Supreme Court has not ruled that any requirement for a permit to carry concealed is unconstitutional. The Court prefers to change precedent in small, incremental steps. It would not surprise this correspondent if Constitutional Carry for all states becomes law during the next decade.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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