Outdoor enthusiasts in the Volunteer State have reason to cheer today with the welcome news of a Friday court ruling.
According to a three-judge panel of the Gibson County Chancery Court, Tennessee’s blanket prohibition on citizens carrying firearms in state parks violates the Constitution.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), and individual plaintiffs brought the successful challenge on behalf of the state’s large Second Amendment community.
2A group celebrates court win for carry rights in TN state parks
The GOA posted on X that the victory is “huge news” for gun rights advocates. “GOA received a UNANIMOUS ORDER from the panel in our Tennessee parks case. The panel declared the TN parks ban unconstitutional & struck down the ‘going armed’ statute, which had previously made concealed carry illegal.”
Plaintiffs filed the suit in 2023 on the belief that the state’s ban on carrying a firearm “with the intent to go armed” and prohibition on carrying in state parks violated the Second Amendment.
Panel was unconvinced by state’s arguments equating firearms with weapons of war
The state, while steadfastly behind the right to keep and bear arms, continues to maintain a gun permit system and the “intent to go armed” statute.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s team argued the obvious point that the Bill of Rights does not allow a person to carry a hand grenade. This means, at least to Tennessee officials, that the state may regulate locations where an individual has the “intent to go armed.”
That position carried little weight in court last week as the panel described the argument as “unpersuasive.” Judges correctly observed that the law results in “the criminalization of the constitutional right to bear arms.”
The court agreed that lawmakers may ban carry in “sensitive places” such as schools. Tennessee officials have 30 days to appeal.
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