Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Tennessee criminal defense lawyers help individuals charged with crimes in the East Tennessee area. Our criminal defense attorneys work in the following areas: Knox County, Blount County, Sevier County, Cocke County, Anderson County, Johnson City, Bristol, and Morristown. If you have been charged with a crime, it is important to contact a Tennessee lawyer to discuss different strategies applicable in your case. All initial consultations are free.

A previous blog discussed the crime of carrying a weapon on school property under Tennessee law. The punishment under that statute depends largely on the offender’s intent. This blog discusses the defenses and exemptions to prosecution under that particular statute. There are certain affirmative defenses to a prosecution for unlawful possession of weapons on school property in Tennessee. The person’s behavior asserting the defense must be in strict compliance with the requirements of one of the following classifications:

• A person hunting during the lawful hunting season on lands owned by any public or private educational institution and designated as open to hunting by the administrator of the educational institution;

• A person possessing unloaded hunting weapons while transversing the grounds of any public or private educational institution for the purpose of gaining access to public or private lands open to hunting with the intent to hunt on the public or private lands unless the lands of the educational institution are posted prohibiting entry;

• A person possessing guns or knives when conducting or attending "gun and knife shows" and the program has been approved by the administrator of the educational institution; or

• A person entering the property for the sole purpose of delivering or picking up passengers and who does not remove, utilize or allow to be removed or utilized any weapon from the vehicle. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1310 (2008).

It is interesting to note that these defenses are based on hunting and approved gun and knife shows. Besides affirmative defenses, there are certain classes of individuals exempt from prosecution under the unlawful carrying of weapons on school property statute:

• Persons employed in the army, air force, navy, coast guard or marine service of the United States or any member of the Tennessee national guard when in discharge of their official duties and acting under orders requiring them to carry arms or weapons;

• Civil officers of the United States in the discharge of their official duties;

• Officers and soldiers of the militia and the national guard when called into actual service;

• Officers of the state, or of any county, city or town, charged with the enforcement of the laws of the state, when in the discharge of their official duties;

• Any pupils who are members of the reserve officers training corps or pupils enrolled in a course of instruction or members of a club or team, and who are required to carry arms or weapons in the discharge of their official class or team duties;

• Any private police employed by the administration or board of trustees of any public or private institution of higher education in the discharge of their duties; and

• Any registered security guard/officer who meets the requirements of title 62, chapter 35, and who is discharging the officer's official duties. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1309 (e) (2008)

If you have been charged with unlawful possession of weapons on school property, or any other crime in East Tennessee, contact a criminal defense attorney. One of our attorneys will be glad to discuss the merits of the government’s case against you.