SB 1105 - HB 1292
FISCAL NOTE
Fiscal Review Committee
Tennessee General Assembly
March 20, 2025
Fiscal Analyst: Natalie Dusek | Email: natalie.dusek@capitol.tn.gov | Phone: 615-741-2564
SB 1105 - HB 1292
SUMMARY OF BILL: Expands the circumstances under which a law enforcement agency
(LEA) may petition a court for permission to destroy a firearm that has been confiscated by a law
enforcement officer and declared to be contraband by a court, to any firearm, rather than only a
firearm that is inoperable or unsafe.
FISCAL IMPACT:
NOT SIGNIFICANT
Assumptions:
• Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-17-1317(i), if the chief of police, sheriff, director of the
judicial district drug task force, Commissioner of the Department of Safety, or Director of
the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, depending upon who confiscated or obtained the
weapon, certifies to the court that a weapon is inoperable or unsafe, then the court shall
order the weapon either destroyed, recycled, or transferred to a museum or historical
society that displays such items to the public and is lawfully eligible to receive the weapon.
• Pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-17-1317(b), any weapon declared contraband that is
secured by a law enforcement officer or LEA after being abandoned, voluntarily
surrendered to, or obtained by a law enforcement officer or LEA, including through a
buyback program, shall, pursuant to a written order of the court, be sold in a public sale,
used for legitimate law enforcement purposes at the discretion of the court, or otherwise
relinquished pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 37-17-1317(i).
• The proposed legislation authorizes the court to order any weapon declared contraband
under the aforementioned circumstances to be destroyed or recycled, regardless of whether
or not the weapon is inoperable or unsafe.
• Based on information provided by the Tennessee Sheriffs Association and the Tennessee
Association of Police Chiefs, contraband firearms are typically either retained or sold.
• It is not known how often a court may order such weapons to be destroyed or recycled, or
how many weapons would be subject to such an order each year.
• However, any increase in expenditures to LEAs to destroy or recycle such weapons is
estimated to be not significant. Any decrease in revenue to LEAs related to destroying or
recycling such weapons, rather than selling them, is also estimated to be not significant.
• Any fiscal impact to state or local government is estimated to be not significant.
SB 1105 - HB 1292 2
CERTIFICATION:
The information contained herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Bojan Savic, Executive Director