A measure to protect the Second Amendment rights of Tennessee tenants from overreaching landlords cleared the state Legislature and awaits Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) expected signature.
Renters face arbitrary restrictions on their right to keep and bear arms that are indefensible. Senate Bill 350 would block landlords from preventing tenants from fully exercising their constitutional freedoms in or on their rental properties.
After all, it would be unthinkable for a person’s freedoms of speech and religion to be suppressed simply for their status as a renter.
Public housing tenants are often denied their Second Amendment rights
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) President Alan Gottlieb praised the legislation as long overdue.
“We have been on the front lines of battles in other states where landlords have arbitrarily prohibited their tenants from having firearms in their dwellings,” Gottlieb explained. “It typically happens in public housing facilities, and courts have determined this violates the Second Amendment rights of renters.”
Tenants who suffer harm while denied gun rights would have legal recourse against landlords
Public housing residents are not second-class citizens, and the Constitution’s protections apply to this demographic as much as they do to anyone else. And who would argue that these taxpayers do not urgently need the ability to defend themselves from violent criminals?
Besides the obvious self-defense advantage, citizens would have a legal way to pursue recourse against landlords who infringe on their rights.
According to the bill’s language, “A tenant who is adversely affected by a violation of subsection (a) may bring a suit against the landlord for actual damages, punitive damages, and recovery of attorney fees.”
Living in poverty should not impede the full exercise of constitutional freedoms. In Tennessee, that may not be the case much longer, as the law would apply to new or renewed leases starting Jan. 1, 2027.
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