Guns at Work: Tennessee's Parking Lot Rules

The controlling statute is Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1313, sometimes called the "guns in trunks" law. It says, "Notwithstanding any law or any ordinance or resolution adopted by the governing body of a city, county, or metropolitan government," a person with a valid handgun carry permit, an enhanced handgun permit, or anyone who lawfully carries under Tennessee's permitless carry provision may:

transport and store a firearm or firearm ammunition in the person's motor vehicle... while on or utilizing any public or private parking area if: (1) The person's motor vehicle is parked in a location where the motor vehicle is permitted to be; and (2) The firearm or ammunition... is kept from ordinary observation if the person is in the motor vehicle; or is kept from ordinary observation and locked within the trunk, glove box, or interior of the person's motor vehicle or a container securely affixed to the motor vehicle if the person is not in the motor vehicle.

That "notwithstanding" clause does real work. It overrides any city or county ordinance, and (per subsection (b)) it also strips an employer of civil liability for what happens with a firearm stored this way, unless the employer itself commits a crime involving that gun or solicits the harm. The employer isn't on the hook for theft of the firearm either.

Backing that up on the employment side is Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-312. It flatly states:

No employer shall discharge or take any adverse employment action against an employee solely for transporting or storing a firearm or firearm ammunition in an employer parking area in a manner consistent with § 39-17-1313(a).

So you have two statutes working together: one that says the storage itself is lawful no matter what the employer's policy says, and one that says firing you for it gives you a cause of action.

Who actually qualifies to invoke this protection? The statute names three groups: holders of a Tennessee enhanced handgun permit (§ 39-17-1351), holders of a Tennessee concealed handgun carry permit (§ 39-17-1366), and anyone lawfully carrying under § 39-17-1307(g), Tennessee's permitless carry provision. That last category, effective July 1, 2021 under 2021 Tenn. Pub. Acts ch. 108, covers adults 21 and older, plus 18-to-20-year-olds who are active duty military or honorably discharged or retired veterans, provided they aren't otherwise barred from possessing a firearm.

A warehouse in Memphis posts a company-wide "no firearms anywhere on property" policy, including the parking lot. An employee who's 25, has no permit but qualifies for permitless carry, keeps a pistol in her center console, out of sight, while she's inside working her shift. Under § 39-17-1313, the company's blanket policy can't override her right to store it that way, and under § 50-1-312, firing her for it would hand her a lawsuit with a shot at economic damages and attorney fees.

A Knox County government employee parks in a county lot with a handgun locked in his glove box. The county, as a local government, might assume it can regulate this on its own property. It can't. The Tennessee Attorney General addressed this directly in Opinion 21-13 (August 31, 2021), concluding that a state or local government employer may not enforce a policy barring employees from storing a lawfully carried handgun in a vehicle parked in employer-provided space, because § 39-17-1314(a) preempts the field of firearms regulation statewide except where § 39-17-1313 itself provides otherwise. A public employee in this spot doesn't sue under § 50-1-312 (that statute's "employer" language runs through the private employment relationship); instead, per the same opinion, the path is a declaratory judgment action under § 39-17-1314(g), available to anyone "adversely affected" by a local ordinance, resolution, or policy that conflicts with state law.

A defense contractor's employee works on a federal installation in Nashville where federal regulations ban firearms from the grounds entirely. Section 39-17-1313 only protects you "unless expressly prohibited by federal law." Federal rules win on federal property, full stop, no matter what Tennessee's statute says.

A delivery company issues employees company-owned vans and has a written policy prohibiting any firearm not required for the job inside those vehicles. Here the protection doesn't apply at all. The statute's definition of "motor vehicle" specifically excludes a vehicle "owned or leased by a governmental or business entity and... provided by such entity to an employee for use during the course of employment if the entity has adopted a written policy prohibiting firearms or ammunition not required for employment within the entity's motor vehicles." Drive your own car to work, and the company can't touch your right to lock a gun in it. Drive their van, and their rules apply.

A separate wrinkle sits in the civil remedy itself. Section 50-1-312(a)(1) defines "employee," for purposes of the private right of action against retaliation, as someone who "possesses a valid handgun carry permit recognized in this state." Read literally, that definition doesn't mention permitless carriers, even though § 39-17-1313 itself protects their underlying conduct. In practice this means a permit holder has a clearly spelled-out statutory lawsuit if fired over this, while a permitless carrier's remedy for the same firing is less explicitly laid out in that particular section, even though the conduct itself is equally legal. Nothing in the sources resolves that gap outright; it's a quirk of how the two statutes were drafted at different times.

There's no criminal penalty aimed at the employee here. Storing a firearm in your locked car in a parking lot the way § 39-17-1313 describes is lawful conduct, not a violation waiting to happen. The exposure runs the other way, toward the employer.

Under § 50-1-312(b)(1)(B), an employee who is discharged or hit with an adverse employment action solely for lawful parking-lot storage can sue to enjoin the employer from doing it again and to recover economic damages plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. The employee carries the initial burden of showing the firing was based solely on the firearm issue; if the employer then produces a legitimate reason, the burden shifts back to the employee to show that reason was pretext. That action has to be filed in chancery or circuit court in the county where the violation happened, and the employee has one year from the date of discharge or adverse action to file.

For government employees, Opinion 21-13 points to § 39-17-1314(g) as the vehicle: a declaratory judgment suit against the local government ordinance or policy itself, available to anyone who's "adversely affected," meaning they lawfully reside in the U.S., may legally possess a firearm under Tennessee law, and were physically present within the jurisdiction when subject to the offending policy.

"My company policy says no guns, so I can't keep one in my car." Company policy doesn't override state law here. A blanket "no firearms anywhere on property" rule can't reach into your personal, privately-owned vehicle parked in the lot, per § 39-17-1313 and § 50-1-312(d).

"This means I can carry the gun into the building." No. The protection is specifically for the vehicle while it's in the parking area. Section 50-1-312(d) says plainly that except for parking areas as covered by § 39-17-1313, nothing stops an employer from banning firearms on the rest of the premises.

"I need a carry permit for any of this to apply to me." Not anymore. Since July 1, 2021, Tennessee's permitless carry provision, § 39-17-1307(g), extends the same parking-lot protection to qualifying adults who carry without a permit.

"I can leave it sitting on the passenger seat where everyone can see it." Only while you're in the vehicle, and even then it has to be "kept from ordinary observation," meaning out of plain view, not just "nobody happened to look." The moment you step away from the car, it has to be locked in the trunk, glove box, interior, or a container bolted to the vehicle.

"If my employer's dumpster-diving security guard spots the gun while I'm putting it away, I'm in trouble." Subsection (d) of § 39-17-1313 specifically covers this: being observed by another person or a security device during the ordinary process of securing the firearm doesn't count as a violation.

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1313, Tennessee Code (via FindLaw): https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-39-criminal-offenses/tn-code-sect-39-17-1313/
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-1-312, Tennessee Code (via FindLaw): https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-50-employer-and-employee/tn-code-sect-50-1-312.html
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307, Tennessee Code (via FindLaw): https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-39-criminal-offenses/tn-code-sect-39-17-1307/
• Tennessee Attorney General Opinion No. 21-13 (Aug. 31, 2021): https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2021/op21-13.pdf

Last Reviewed: October 19, 2026