A three-judge panel struck down the State of Tennessee’s law prohibiting people from bringing guns into public parks.
The ruling came after three gun owners, along with two gun rights organizations, Gun Owners of America, Inc. and Gun Owners Foundation, sued the state in February 2023 over the law. The law made it a crime to bring guns to parks in most circumstances.
The panel ruled against the state’s argument that it did not have jurisdiction to strike down a criminal statute and that the gun owners and gun rights organizations do not have standing to bring the lawsuit.
It instead found the Tennessee law violated the Second Amendment and Tennessee Constitution because the “Tennessee Constitution cannot afford its citizens fewer protections with regard to the right to keep and bear arms than the United States Constitution.”
“Thus [plaintiffs] argue, while Article I, Section 26 (of the Tennessee Constitution) may provide greater protections than the Second Amendment, the Second Amendment establishes a ‘floor’ of protections that the Tennessee’s Constitution [sic] cannot fail to also provide,” the court wrote in its ruling.
That argument required the plaintiffs to prove that the law fell within the scope of the Second Amendment before the burden shifted to the state justifying its prohibition. The court agreed with the plaintiffs, saying the prohibition fell under the Second Amendment.
The court reasoned that the term “going armed,” has traditionally meant traveling with a weapon and the intent to threaten the lives of others. In Tennessee, however, the court said the term has traditionally been used to describe the open carry of firearms.
Because of this, the court found that the Tennessee law’s wording criminalized the right to carry a firearm anywhere in the state.
“The Going Armed Statute, by its use of the phrase ‘the intent to go armed,’ far from criminalizing an intent to terrorize the people, instead criminalizes an intent to ‘carry’ for the purpose… of being armed and ready for offensive or defensive action in a case of conflict with another person,” the court said. “In other words, the Going Armed Statute criminalizes the entire right-to-bear-arms portion of the Second Amendment. Inherently, there can be no tradition of such a regulation in our history, nor can there be any legitimate sweep to such a statute.”
The court described the state’s arguments against this characterization of the law as “unpersuasive.”
‘Puts lives on the line’
In an Aug. 25, statement, Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said the ruling puts lives at risk.
“This ruling puts Tennesseans at greater risk by tying the hands of law enforcement officers who encounter people who are armed and potentially dangerous,” Lamar said in the statement. “If police can no longer investigate someone for the intent to go armed, officers are left waiting until a crime has already been committed — a failed public safety policy that puts lives on the line.”
Lamar went on to say it was “unclear whether the [Gov. Bill Lee] administration will appeal the lower court’s ruling. However, the court order said lawyers with the Tennessee Attorney’s General Office had requested oral arguments be preserved for an appeal.
The state attorney general’s office did not respond at the time of publication to a request for comment.
Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TN gun laws: Court strikes down guns in parks prohibition