KLS Keeping Law Simple Legislation in plain English

Straight-ahead summaries built from the official bill text. We keep the source links front and center and leave the decision up to you.

Back to Tennessee

SB0243 • 2026

Criminal Offenses

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39, Chapter 14, Part 1; Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13 and Title 40, relative to criminal offenses.

Crime Firearms
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Bailey, Butler
Last action
2025-03-25
Official status
Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide details on enforcement or accidental damage to serial numbers.

Making It a Crime to Mess with Gun Serial Numbers

This bill makes altering or removing serial numbers from guns and selling, buying, or owning such guns a serious crime in Tennessee.

What This Bill Does

  • Makes it illegal for someone to change, cover up, destroy, or remove the permanent number on a gun or antique firearm.
  • Also makes it illegal to sell, buy, or own a gun with its serial number altered, covered up, destroyed, or removed.
  • Says that breaking this new law is a Class E felony and requires at least 180 days in jail without early release.

Who It Names or Affects

  • People who own guns
  • People who sell or buy guns

Terms To Know

Class E felony
A serious crime that has a specific punishment set by law, like jail time.
Permanent distinguishing number
The unique serial number or manufacturer's mark on a gun that helps identify it.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify what happens if someone accidentally damages the serial number.
  • Does not explain how local governments will pay for extra jail costs.
  • Does not specify who enforces this new law.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Amendment 1-0 to SB0243

Plain English: The amendment adds a new subsection to Tennessee law that makes it illegal for someone to alter or hide the serial number of a firearm or antique firearm and imposes a mandatory minimum sentence for violating this rule.

  • Adds a new subsection (b) to Section 39-14-134 in Title 39, Chapter 14, Part 1 of Tennessee Code Annotated, making it illegal to alter or hide the serial number of firearms or antique firearms.
  • Specifies that selling, purchasing, or possessing such altered firearms is also a violation and punishable as a Class E felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of 180 days in jail.
  • The amendment text does not specify the exact penalties beyond the mandatory minimum sentence for this offense.
  • It's unclear what additional consequences or requirements are imposed by existing law that this amendment is meant to modify or enhance.

Bill History

  1. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Finance, Ways & Means Committee

  2. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Taken off notice for cal in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee of Judiciary Committee

  3. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/19/2025

  4. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/19/2025

  5. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/12/2025

  6. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/12/2025

  7. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee Ayes 8, Nays 0 PNV 0

  8. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 3/4/2025

  9. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 3/5/2025

  10. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee to 3/5/2025

  11. 2025-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate Judiciary Committee to 3/4/2025

  12. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for 2/25/2025

  13. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 2/26/2025

  14. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Meeting Canceled

  15. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Criminal Justice Subcommittee for 2/19/2025

  16. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  17. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  18. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee

  19. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  20. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Criminal Justice Subcommittee

  21. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Judiciary Committee

  22. 2025-02-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  23. 2025-01-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  24. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  25. 2025-01-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

Abstract summarizes the bill.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HOUSE BILL 588
By Butler

SENATE BILL 243
By Bailey

SB0243
000907
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 39,
Chapter 14, Part 1; Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13
and Title 40, relative to criminal offenses.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 39-14-134, is amended by adding
the following as a new subsection (b) and redesignating the existing subsection (b) accordingly:
(b)
(1) It is an offense for a person to knowingly and with the intent to
conceal or misrepresent the identity of a firearm or antique firearm to:
(A) Alter, cover, deface, destroy, or remove the permanent serial
number, manufacturer's identification plate, or another permanent
distinguishing number from a firearm or antique firearm; or
(B) Sell, purchase, or possess such a firearm or antique firearm.
(2) A violation of this subsection (b) is a Class E felony, punishable by a
mandatory minimum sentence of one hundred eighty (180) days incarceration.
The defendant is not eligible for release from confinement until the defendant has
served the entire one-hundred-eighty-day mandatory minimum sentence.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.