“Why?”
TN has a rotten set of carry laws. Those laws are usually reflective of the underlying political reality. In TN you need a permit for OC, you need to be fingerprinted, the handgun permit is expensive, and you still have a lot of places where carry is not permitted. Such as parks, municipal buildings, etc. And there is no provision for nonresidents to obtain a permit.
“The TN that I have lived in all my life is very pro-gun/pro-2nd Amendment.”
Don’t get me wrong, I love TN. TN is better than some, but not as good as others on gun rights. I’d give TN a C+/B- on gun rights. Orders of magnitude better than CA, NJ, NY and IL. But not as good as AZ, AK, VT, VA or KY.
I’d be delighted to see TN jump to the head of the pack with Constitutional carry.
When I got my permit several years ago the State Trooper that did my fingerprints got angry. I thought he was angry because I was getting a permit. He said “this infuriates me!” I asked him if he thought citizens shouldn't be allowed to carry and he said “quite the opposite. I don't think they should be required to go through this nonsense to carry because it's a Constitutional right”. A lot of Tennesseans feel the same way but at least we can carry and guns are not taboo here. A lot of law enforcement feels the same way as that State Trooper. I used to ride my horse in the mountains in the State Park and I always strapped a handgun to my saddle. The fact that I had it kept a car load of drunks from bothering me. Right after the drunks left a park officer pulled up and told me to be careful back there by myself. He saw the gun on my saddle and never said a word. He just smiled and told me to have a nice ride. LOL
I'm hoping that people of TN get out and vote today to boot out the politicians that oppose our gun freedoms. I plan to!