Tennessee Senate Bill SB0957

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/5/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13, relative to firearms.

Summary

SB0957 amends Tennessee’s firearms laws to specifically prohibit a switch or auto sear device designed, made, or intended to convert a weapon into one that fires automatically more than one shot with a single trigger pull and without manual reloading. The bill adds this device to the list of contraband or prohibited firearm-related items under Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13. The measure also classifies an offense involving such a switch or auto sear as a Class E felony. It takes effect July 1, 2025, and would give law enforcement and prosecutors a clearer statutory basis for charging possession, manufacture, or related conduct involving these conversion devices under state law.

Impact

The bill expands Tennessee’s criminal firearms code by expressly defining switch or auto sear devices as prohibited items and by assigning a specific felony penalty to violations involving them. It amends Section 39-17-1302 to add a new prohibited item category and updates the penalty subsection so that offenses under the new subdivision are treated as Class E felonies. The practical effect is to strengthen state enforcement against firearm conversion devices and align Tennessee law more directly with concerns about machine-gun conversion parts.

Sentiment

No committee transcripts or recorded votes were provided, so there is no documented debate or formal vote history to gauge legislative sentiment. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to reflect a public-safety-oriented approach to regulating firearm conversion devices, with an emphasis on enforcement and criminal penalties rather than broader firearms policy changes.

Contention

Because no discussion transcripts or vote records are available, specific points of contention cannot be identified from the provided materials. In general, bills like this may draw debate over whether the state is targeting dangerous illegal modifications versus potentially affecting lawful gun owners, parts sellers, or questions of overlap with federal firearms law, but those issues are not documented in the supplied context.