That's a wasted day in my life that I'll never get back.

160 slides and some video that could have covered the same material in 20 minutes.

And the shooting "test" is a joke. One of the people in the class was a woman who had never shot a gun before and you could tell she was scared of the Shield .380 she was shooting. The guy shooting next to me had some super tricked out Glock with a red dot that keyholed every round.

And they both passed with no comment.

Instructor was a nice guy, but what a waste of time.

It's a pretty brutal day. Having the class in the first place is questionable, but if we're gonna have it, let's teach folks to actually shoot. It's remarkable to me that 99% of the day is spent looking at a PP deck that most people will forget by the next morning.

Same story when I took it awhile back - some folks showed up with magnum wheel guns that they clearly had no business shooting. They "passed" but if I'm honest they were not demonstrating safe weapon handling, let alone competent shooting.

There shouldn't be such a class in the first place.

But, there is and the instructors are forced to follow the rules set by TN Department of Safety and Homeland Security. They don't mandate the EXACT material which is to be taught, but they do require certain elements be included. Just be thankful you're not stuck watching the stupid VHS tape of the two TBI guys, one of whom shows the audience a Glock .357 Magnum.

The instructor, who was a LEO, started off the class by talking about his misgivings about Tennessee's new constitutional carry law, explaining how people who didn't take the class were just not qualified to be carrying.

From that point I expected something of actual value, but other than the couple slides on the actual law, the rest of the classroom time was useless.

And then watching the other people in the class, one of whom actually did ask if there was any shooting instruction or practice involved, (the answer was "no"), shoot to qualify made the whole idea of a "training requirement" for that permission slip completely pointless.

Yeah that class sucks pretty bad but its worth being able to carry in all the states that recognize our permit.

I take it the LEO-instructor taught the legal part of the course?  That segment alone should last for hours.

He taught the whole thing. Pretty much just read his slides. The legal issues for the use of deadly force are pretty straightforward.

What is the difference in the enhanced permit compared to my regular handgun carry permit I've had for 20 years?

I haven't looked much into the new TN carry regs/permits etc.  since I've had my regular HCP since I turned 21. Just curious.

Hell, that class was no shooting training or instruction,  just law stuff and a very easy Qual that anyone could pass.

I think that's what they now call the "Enhanced Carry Permit"

This is my 50 round qualification target. You would have thought I was an Olympic champion from the reaction of the instructor and the other students. 3,5, and 7 yards

Attached File

Yep.  When they created the nearly useless 'concealed only' carry permit, as yet another effort to stall passage of Constitutional carry, they renamed the old Handgun Carry Permit, to make things more confusing for people who were used to the old permit system, and make it sound like they had done more than they actually did, for people who weren't familiar with the details (it's "Enhanced", so it has to be an improvement, right?  No, it's the same old permit.).

"'concealed only' carry permit,". When did that happen?  I thought there is constitutional carry since July 1.

Here is a good explanation of all of this - HERE

There are some subtle differences between the enhanced permit, the concealed-only permit and permit-less carry. I would wear my fingers out explaining them and take more time than I have this morning.

Check the defenses for carrying in a park or greenway and job protection when storing a gun in a vehicle parked in an employer’s no-guns parking lot.

Went into effect at the start of 2020.  And if they hadn't pushed the 'concealed only' permit, we may have had constitutional carry a year earlier, since the point of the 'concealed only' permit was to offer an alternative to constitutional carry bills.  

The NRA was pushing really hard, sending out emails asking members to call their state reps, and listing the advantages of the 'concealed only' permit bill (long after probably nearly all of those advantages had been removed by amendments to the bill).  It was supported by legislators that weren't really on the side of gun owners (should have been the first warning flag), the TFA stated they couldn't figure out what useful purpose the permit would serve (after the amendments were quickly thrown on to gut what few good points it had), and the bill sponsor eventually gave up on answering questions about the training requirement and said they'd just have to let the TN Department of Safety figure it out.

It was supposed to be free, no training/class requirement, and probably a few other talking points that the NRA was pushing (that were no longer true, by the time the NRA started pushing for it).  It ended up with a permit fee of $65, a training requirement which can be completed online through 3rd party vendors (I haven't looked into their fees), restricted to concealed carry only, and does not allow carry in all of the places (but does allow carry in most of them) that the old permit (now the "enhanced" permit) allows carry.

ETA: And there are a few states that recognize the TN "enhanced" permit, but do not recognize the TN "concealed only" permit.

^^^Truth right here.^^^