Give legal gun owners a break

With the turn of the new year, criminals using guns in the commission of a felony will receive drastically tougher criminal sentencing in Tennessee. The new “Crooks with Guns” law is a victory for law enforcement officers and regular citizens alike.

Now, so-called conservatives from both parties in the Tennessee General Assembly should turn some of their energy and attention on the issue of gun laws to drawing down some of the financial drain government regulation causes law-abiding gun owners.

The math is pretty simple. In order for a Tennessee resident to legally own and carry a firearm for self-defense purposes, state government exacts somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $300 in fees, taxes and charges.

Applying for a gun carry permit in this state costs a resident an initial $115. That comes on top of an instant-check fee of $10 and a sales tax of around 10 percent on a purchase that can run anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of thousand dollars.

On top of all of this is an extra $100 to $150 for a gun safety class from a state licensed private business that offers them. Passing the class is a prerequisite to actually obtaining the gun carry permit. In some areas, local police departments offer these classes free of charge, but the demand can be higher than these departments have time and officers to teach the classes.

The extra costs added by state government to even a modest purchase of a $300 used handgun can almost increase the purchase price by 50 percent in an area where permit classes are given for free. The government-related charges can literally double the entry price to carrying a handgun for self-defense where these classes are not offered by local police departments.

Charging hundreds of dollars to a Tennessean’s right to carry a firearm is simply wrong on its face. Based on the spirit of laws already on the books, state lawmakers past and present appear to agree this a right Tennesseans have, not a privilege awarded to them by the government.

Furthermore, these charges create an economic barrier that may force law-abiding residents of our state on the lower socio-economic end of the food chain to either carry illegally or not at all. Why should single parents, young people and the working poor be at a disadvantage financially when it comes to a right others with more means enjoy freely? They should not.

If conservatives in the Legislature mean what they say about Tennesseans’ right to bear arms, then they should look at either reducing these fees or making firearms one of the items in this state where sales tax is not charged. We have made the use of firearms much more difficult for criminals. Now, we need to make self-defense for honest, hard-working and law-abiding Tennesseans not cost so much.