Last updated .

Federal law requires federally licensed firearm dealers (but not individual sellers) to initiate a background check on the purchaser prior to sale of a firearm. Federal law provides states with the pick of serving as a land "point of contact" and conducting their own groundwork checks using state, as well as federal, records and databases, or having the checks performed past the FBI using but the National Instant Criminal Background Check System ("NICS") database. (Notation that land files are non always included in the federal database.)

Tennessee is a signal of contact state for firearm purchaser background checks. In Tennessee, firearms dealers must initiate the background bank check required by federal law past contacting the Tennessee Agency of Investigation ("TBI"). TBI enforces the federal purchaser prohibitions referenced above.1

Whatsoever person accordingly licensed by the federal government may stock and sell firearms to any potential purchaser not ineligible to receive firearms because such recipient has been convicted of stalking,2 is addicted to alcohol, is prohibited under the prohibited categories of federal law3 or has a firearm prohibiting mental wellness history.four

Before delivering any firearm to a purchaser, a firearms dealer must:

  • Receive from the prospective purchaser current identification;5
  • Consummate a firearm transaction record as required by federal police and obtain the signature of the purchaser on the record;
  • Asking that TBI conduct a criminal history record check on the purchaser, providing the following information to TBI:
    • The federal firearms license number of the dealer;
    • The business name of the dealer;
    • The place of transfer;
    • The name of the person making the transfer;
    • The make, model, quotient and manufacturer'southward number of the firearm beingness transferred;
    • The name, gender, race, and date of nativity of the purchaser;
    • The social security number of the purchaser, if one has been assigned; and
    • The blazon, issuer and identification number of the identification presented past the purchaser; and
  • Receive a unique blessing number for the transfer from TBI and tape this number on the firearm transaction record.half-dozen

TBI may require that the dealer verify the identification of the purchaser if that identity is in question by sending thumbprints of the purchaser to TBI.7

Firearm transfers will be denied if TBI finds that the potential purchaser has been charged with a law-breaking for which a conviction would crusade that purchaser to be prohibited under state or federal law from purchasing, receiving, or possessing a firearm, and a terminal disposition of the case has not occurred or is non recorded.8 However, if TBI has received written detect, signed and verified by the clerk of the court or the clerk'south designee, that indicates that no final disposition information is available, TBI must immediately reverse a deprival and permit the sale to proceed.9 Alternatively, if the purchaser challenges a denial, TBI must proceed with efforts to obtain the concluding disposition information, and the purchaser may assist. If neither the purchaser nor TBI is able to obtain the last disposition information inside fifteen days, TBI must immediately notify the dealer that the transaction that was initially denied is now a "conditional proceed." A "conditional proceed" ways that the dealer may lawfully transfer the firearm to the purchaser.ten

Tennessee law also requires the instant check unit of measurement of TBI to contact the relevant bureau within i day if a person that is subject area to a protective order entered into the Tennessee crime data heart attempts to buy a firearm.11

Under Tennessee law, if a person who has been prohibited from possessing firearms for mental health reasons attempts to buy a firearm, and the instant check unit of the Tennessee bureau of investigation confirms the person's tape, the unit shall contact, within twenty-4 hours, the principal constabulary enforcement officer of the jurisdiction where the attempted purchase occurred for the purpose of initiating an investigation into a possible violation of constabulary.12

Sellers of firearms who are non federally licensed dealers are not required to deport background checks on purchasers in Tennessee. See our Universal Background Checks policy summary.

MEDIA REQUESTS

Our experts tin can speak to the total spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Electronic mail us at media@giffords.org.

Contact
  1. ATF, "Permanent Brady State Lists," accessed Oct 8, 2020, https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/permanent-brady-state-lists. Come across Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 38-6-109 and 39-17-1316 for greater detail on TBI's processing of criminal groundwork checks.[↩]
  2. Tenn. Lawmaking Ann. § 39-17-315.[↩]
  3. Run into xviii U.S.C. § 922.[↩]
  4. Tenn. Lawmaking Ann. § 39-17-1316(a)(1).[↩]
  5. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316(f).[↩]
  6. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316(c).[↩]
  7. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316(g).[↩]
  8. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316(n).[↩]
  9. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316(p).[↩]
  10. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1316(o).[↩]
  11. Tenn. Lawmaking Ann. § 38-6-109(east).[↩]
  12. Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-6-109(f).[↩]