Gun laws, bail reform, drag racing: New TN laws go into effect on July 1

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Hundreds of new laws go into effect today in Tennessee that will directly impact you and your family.

In Tennessee, July 1 means the start of a new month and a long list of new laws that you will now have to follow. The General Assembly passed many of the bills into law earlier this year.

WREG spoke with state representatives Mark White and Jesse Chism about new gun laws and bail reform aimed at slowing down what some call the “revolving door” of criminals in and out of the judicial system.

“I think we got a good group of bills out that protect the citizens,” Rep. White said. “We have passed laws to hold them [criminal defendants] accountable. We just got to get our local judicial system to enforce them.”

“As always it’s a mixed bag. We got some good stuff in there and we got some stuff not so good,” Rep. Chism said. “Even though there was some stuff in the bill I didn’t like, I still believe some of our hardened criminals, it could be a step to keep them off the streets.”

Another new law increases the penalty of drag racing to a felony offense , punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $3,000.

“If a person is drag racing they’re endangering the lives of the rest of us and they pass us every day on the streets. So, we have stronger enforcement,” Rep. White said.

One of the more controversial new laws allows teachers and staff to carry concealed handguns on public school grounds.

“We knew our districts [MSCS] down here didn’t want it and wouldn’t implement it, but our rural communities across our state that are 30 minutes away from the closest sheriff’s office had been asking for it,” Rep. White said.” So, we passed it for them.”

“To add the extra burden of arming teachers, making them be the security of the school as well, I think it’s a bad thing,” Rep. Chism said.

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Representative Chism says he is proud of his bill that now requires the recordings of juvenile interrogations.

“It’s going to protect both the youth in question, as well as the law enforcement,” he said.

As for Representative White, he hopes his bill turning the University of Memphis Campus School into its own school district could be a model for teaching and learning for Memphis area schools.

As for Tennessee lawmakers, they are in recess until the start of the next legislative session.

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