TN: Governor Bill Lee Signs Improved Self Defense Law

 Tennessee Capitol

Governor Bill Lee has signed Tennessee Bill SB1847 into law on May 22, 2026. The bill reforms the law on restrictions of the use of deadly force, allowing some uses of deadly force to protect property in certain circumstances.

Tennessee Bill SB1847 started out as a significant expansion of the legal use of deadly force in Tennessee. The bill would have made the use of deadly force in defense of property legal for a broad swath of issues, including trespass. In the Legislative process the bill was amended to specify the use of deadly force would be legally acceptable in fewer situations. From a previous AmmoLand article:

 The new language allows residents to use deadly force to prevent “the other’s imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or aggravated cruelty to animals; “if the resident reasonably believes the property cannot otherwise be protected and the use of lesser force would expose the resident or a third party to “a risk of death, serious bodily injury, or grave sexual abuse.”

The bill passed both houses on April 23, 2026. The bill took a month to be signed by Governor Bill Lee. Legislatures have a sequence of events which are required before a governor signs a bill into law, vetoes the bill, or in Tennessee as in some other states, allows the bill to become law without the governor’s signature.  Those sequences allow the leadership of a legislature to speed up or delay the sending of the bill to the governor. The governor can choose when to sign a bill after it is received, within limits.

Tennessee’s process is fairly straightforward. The bill is made ready for the signatures of the Senate Speaker and the House Speaker, to certify the bill is what the legislature passed. This can happen very quickly, if the leadership insists on it. For SB1847 it took a week until April 30. The Senate Speaker signed on the same day, April 30. The House speaker did not sign for a week, on May 7th.  Sending the bill to the Governor for signature is said to be automatic.  May 7th was a Thursday. SB1847 was sent to Governor Bill Lee on the 11th, the next Monday. The Governor has ten days, not counting Sundays, in Tennessee to sign, veto, or allow the bill to become law without the governor’s signature. Governor Lee waited the full 10 days, not counting the intervening Sunday, and signed the bill on the May 22.

The bill is now signed and will become effective as of July 1, 2026.

Analysis: This correspondent expected SB1847 to be signed a week or two sooner than it was. The votes for passage were supermajorities. In the House, 62-24; in the Senate 23-5. In Tennessee, only simple majorities in both houses are necessary to override a veto. The amended bill is not a radical change. It gives people who are protecting themselves, others, and their property a little more legal protection than they had before. SB1847 moves Tennessee law a little closer to Texas law about the use of deadly force in protecting property.

The reasons for the delay in signing the bill have become insignificant. The bill has been signed. It will take effect on July 1, 2026.

  ©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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