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The latest salvo in Tennessee's gun rights battle?

tn.gov

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  There’s a new twist in the push by gun advocates to make Tennessee an “open carry” state.

Last year a bill that would have broadened the right of Tennesseans to openly carry a firearm in public passed the State Senate, but died in a House committee in the closing days of the legislative session.

The measure failed in committee because a so-called fiscal note was attached indicating the bill would cost the state more than $100,000 to implement.

Some legislators and gun rights advocates cried foul, saying that the Haslam Administration and legislative leaders had intentionally torpedoed the bill by inflating the fiscal note.

As the new legislative session begins, Franklin Rep. Glen Casada has introduced a bill that would make fiscal notes subject to closer scrutiny.

“Members get aggravated. They say the process is not clear, it’s not open, it’s not transparent, so my legislation simply will put into place a method showing how these notes are determined.”

Casada says his bill would allow a legislator to contest a fiscal note, ask for supporting documents, present counter evidence, and even force the members of a committee attaching a fiscal note to testify as to how it was calculated.

(Editor's Note: Rep. Casada's bill is HB7 and can be viewed on the Tenn. General Assembly website.)