Law enforcement officers permitted to carry firearms – Exceptions – Restrictions – Identification card for corrections officers

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any law enforcement officer may carry firearms at all times and in all places within Tennessee, on-duty or off-duty, regardless of the officer’s regular duty hours or assignments, except as provided by subsection (c), federal law, lawful orders of court or the written directives of the executive supervisor of the employing agency. (1) hand. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Law enforcement officer: includes a sheriff, sheriff's deputy, and, only for purposes of the enhancement of a crime, a deputy jailer. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Person: includes the singular and the plural and means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, copartnership, association, corporation, governmental subdivision or agency, or other organization or other legal entity, or any agent or servant thereof. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106Rifle: means any firearm designed, made or adapted to be fired from the shoulder and to use the energy of the explosive in a fixed metallic cartridge to fire a projectile through a rifled bore by a single function of the trigger. See Tennessee Code 39-17-1301State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105(b) The authority conferred by this section is expressly intended to and shall supersede restrictions placed upon law enforcement officers’ authority to carry firearms by other sections within this part. (c) The authority conferred by this section shall not extend to a law enforcement officer: (1) Who is not engaged in the actual discharge of official duties as a law enforcement officer and carries a firearm onto school grounds or inside a school building during regular school hours unless the officer immediately informs the principal that the officer will be present on school grounds or inside the school building and in possession of a firearm. If the principal is unavailable, the notice may be given to an appropriate administrative staff person in the principal’s office; (2) Who is consuming beer or an alcoholic beverage or who is under the influence of beer, an alcoholic beverage, or a controlled substance or controlled substance analogue; or (3) Who is not engaged in the actual discharge of official duties as a law enforcement officer while attending a judicial proceeding. (d) (1) For purposes of this section, “law enforcement officer” means a person who is a full-time employee of the state in a position authorized by the laws of this state to carry a firearm and to make arrests for violations of some or all of the laws of this state, or a full-time police officer who has been certified by the peace officer standards and training commission, or a commissioned reserve deputy sheriff as authorized in writing by the sheriff, or a commissioned reserve or auxiliary police officer as authorized in writing by the chief of police, or a sheriff who has been certified by the peace officer standards and training commission, or a deputy sheriff employed by a county as a court officer or corrections officer as authorized in writing by the sheriff. (2) For purposes of this section, “law enforcement officer” also means an inmate relations coordinator who is employed by the department of correction and has completed the probationary period established for an inmate relations coordinator, a correctional officer who is employed by the department of correction and has completed the probationary period established for a correctional officer, a person employed by the department of correction as a warden, deputy warden, associate warden, correctional administrator, assistant or deputy commissioner, or commissioner who has successfully completed any probationary period if required for those positions and who has successfully completed firearms training in accordance with department of correction standards, which standards shall include, at a minimum, forty (40) hours initial training and eight (8) hours annual in-service training in firearms qualification administered by an instructor with certification from the Tennessee Correction Academy’s firearms instructor program or from a police firearms instructor training program conducted or sanctioned by the federal bureau of investigation or the National Rifle Association. (3) For purposes of this section, “law enforcement officer” also means a duly elected and sworn constable in a county where constables retain law enforcement powers and duties under § 8-10-108; provided, that the constable receives, at a minimum, forty (40) hours initial training, within one (1) year of election, and eight (8) hours annual in-service training in firearms qualification administered by a certified la