Legislation giving handgun carry permit holders the right to keep guns in their vehicles in public parking lots, including their employer’s parking lot, passed the Tennessee Senate Monday evening, 28-5.
The bill, which will go to the House Civil Justice Subcommittee Wednesday afternoon, would give civil immunity to employers for deaths, injuries, or damage involving guns brought onto parking lots by employees. Under the bill, employers could continue to ban firearms for those without carry permits.
Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey sponsored the bill, and last week, House Speaker Beth Harwell predicted the measure will pass the house. Harwell, a Nashville Republican, played a key role in blocking the passage of a broader bill last year, but both speakers have made it clear they want an early disposition of the issue, which they consider a distraction from more important legislation.
Major business groups, while insisting they should be allowed to govern the use of their own property, concede the bill is less onerous than last year’s, which applied to everyone, not just Tennessee’s 371,000 carry permit holders.
Governor Bill Haslam, who opposed last year’s bill, hasn’t taken a position on this one, which likely means he wouldn’t veto it.