Posted on 03/18/2009 5:52:22 AM PDT by marktwain
FOUNTAIN CITY (WATE) -- A 1998 state law that requires gun buyers to provide a fingerprint could soon be a thing of the past.
A bill that passed 82-11 in the State House is now headed for the Senate. It says firearms dealers in Tennessee would no longer be required to take thumbprints from people buying a gun.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation asks that gun dealers buy a specific type of ink and also provides them with a thumbprint form, but many local dealers say they're not taught how to accurately take a thumbprint.
"I don't know if it would be considered legal since we're not authorized to take fingerprints and we have not had any instruction on how to validate a good fingerprint from a bad one," says Randy Bowman, owner of Randy's Guns and Knives in Fountain City.
Although thumb printing is required, it's not part of TBI's background check for a gun purchase. The dealer calls in the information provided by the potential buyer.
"If they are able to figure out a way to get false papers or someone else's driver's license they won't have to worry about submitting to a thumbprint analysis, which will catch them later on," said Chad Ramsey, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence.
Ramsey says Tennessee should not lose this already under-utilized tool.
"Certainly there are ways you can apply this in to some sort of database or other tool that allows law enforcement to check when they lift thumbprints at a crime scene to determine whether or not a gun owner has left a thumbprint behind," he says.
The current law requires gun dealers to keep prints on file for a year.
TBI reports it has only requested one thumbprint since the current law was enacted. That print was smudged and unusable
"In the ten years I've been here I have never had law enforcement come in and say we would like to have the fingerprints from this individual," says Bowman.
Now that the bill has passed in the House, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee will hear it on Wednesday.
It is one of more than 100 gun-related proposals that have been filed this year.
Other bills gaining attention include a bill that would allow someone with a concealed carry permit to take their gun into a restaurant that serves alcohol.
Another bill, if passed, would allow gun permit holders to be armed in state parks.
And there's a bill that would make the state gun license database private.
Smart people. I’m moving there as soon as I can.
Looks like the intimidation by the Commercial Appeal reporting holding permits didn’t go they way they wanted.
How many CRIMES did this stupid exercise solve? or PREVENT?
Totally unrelated... but I love your tagline. :)
Not really. Libs have been pushing and people are getting fed up. The commercial appeal story opened eyes in TN in a big way. I have relatives from home with a capital H talking about gun rights who never did before.
“I’m moving there as soon as I can.”
Our plans, too. Have taken two trips for house hunting. Great place. Wonderful people.
Oklahoma City and Tulsa had these fingerprint laws for years if you bought a handgun.
In Tulsa you gave fingerprints when and where you bought the handgun.
In OKC you had to go down to city hall and give the fingerprints.
A few years ago it was realized that NO criminals had ever been sent to jail because of these fingerprints and the fingerprint requirements were removed.
No probelm the trucks from mexico have lots of guns for sale cheap and no stinking paper work nafta is working after all.
Acutally when I think about it I have family there. All the more reason.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.