When Governor Bill Lee signed Tennessee’s permitless carry law in April 2021, the private security industry held its breath. Eleven months later, the effects are landing in ways that few predicted and everyone has to deal with.
The 2022 session of the Tennessee General Assembly is now deep into committee work, and several bills moving through the House and Senate will directly affect how private security companies operate statewide. From trespassing authority to theft prosecution thresholds to the scope of what a uniformed guard can legally do on a client’s property, this session carries real weight for the industry.
Security company owners who aren’t paying attention to Nashville this spring are making a mistake.
Permitless Carry: The Ripple Effects
Tennessee became the 19th state to allow permitless carry when the law took effect on July 1, 2021. Adults 21 and older (and military members 18 and older) can now carry a handgun openly or concealed without a permit, provided they’re legally eligible to possess firearms.
For private security operations, the practical impact has been a slow-building headache. The core issue is simple: when anyone can legally carry a firearm, security officers have a harder time assessing threats in real time. A person walking into a commercial property with a visible handgun could be a lawful carrier exercising a constitutional right or someone about to cause harm. The seconds a guard spends making that determination matter.
Property owners retain the right to prohibit firearms on their premises under Tennessee law. Posting a T.C.A. SS 39-17-1359 notice bans firearms in a specific location, and violating the posting is a misdemeanor. Security officers at posted properties have clear authority to ask armed individuals to leave. The complication arises at properties that haven’t posted, which includes most retail, dining, and entertainment venues across the state.
Training programs for security guards in Tennessee have scrambled to add modules covering permitless carry scenarios. TDCI-approved training providers report that their armed guard curriculum now dedicates significant time to de-escalation techniques involving lawfully armed civilians. That training evolution is necessary. It’s also expensive, and it adds hours to an already lengthy certification process.
Trespassing Bills: Expanding Guard Authority
Two bills working through committee this session would adjust Tennessee’s trespassing statutes in ways that benefit security operations. The first expands the definition of authorized representatives who can issue trespass warnings on behalf of property owners. Currently, the property owner or their direct agent must issue the warning. The proposed language would explicitly include licensed security officers acting under a written contract.
This matters more than it sounds. Right now, a security guard at a Nashville apartment complex who encounters a trespasser technically needs to contact the property manager or owner to issue a formal trespass warning. If the owner isn’t available at 2 a.m., the guard’s legal authority gets murky. The proposed bill would clear that ambiguity.
The second bill increases penalties for repeat trespassing at commercial properties. Under current law, criminal trespass is a Class C misdemeanor on first offense, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $50 fine. The reality is that most first-offense trespassing cases result in a citation and release. Repeat offenders know this. Security guards at Memphis shopping centers describe the same individuals returning to properties days after being warned, aware that consequences are minimal.
If the enhanced penalty bill passes, repeat trespassing at the same commercial property within 12 months would escalate to a Class B misdemeanor, carrying up to six months and a $500 fine. The sponsors, including a Memphis-area representative who consulted with local security firms, argue that property owners need more tools to keep serial trespassers away.
Theft Thresholds and the Retail Security Connection
Tennessee’s felony theft threshold sits at $1,000, meaning theft of property valued at $1,000 or more is classified as a felony. Several states have raised their thresholds in recent years, with some setting the line at $2,500 or higher. A bill introduced in the 2022 session proposes keeping Tennessee’s threshold at $1,000 and indexing it to inflation, which would prevent erosion of the threshold’s deterrent value over time.
For security companies working retail accounts, the theft threshold matters because it determines whether a shoplifting incident results in a felony arrest or a misdemeanor citation. Retail clients in Nashville and Memphis have told security providers that the $1,000 threshold is one of the few reasons organized retail theft hasn’t gotten worse in Tennessee than in states like California, where the threshold sits at $950 and enforcement has been widely criticized.
The bill has bipartisan support, though debate centers on whether indexing to inflation makes the threshold too predictable for organized theft rings to calculate around. Opponents argue that a fixed threshold at $1,000 is already well understood and doesn’t need adjustment.
TDCI Oversight: Tighter Scrutiny Coming
The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance has signaled through committee testimony that it plans to increase compliance audits of licensed security companies in 2022. TDCI’s Private Protective Services division, operating under T.C.A. SS 62-35-101 et seq., licenses both individual guards and the companies that employ them.
During a January hearing, a TDCI representative noted that the number of licensed contract security companies in Tennessee has grown by roughly 15% since 2019, while the division’s audit staff has remained flat. That gap means some companies haven’t received a compliance review in three or more years. The division plans to prioritize audits of companies that have received complaints or that show irregularities in their guard registration records.
For security company owners, the message is clear: make sure your guard registrations are current, your training records are documented, and your insurance meets TDCI minimums. Companies that let compliance slide during the pandemic years, when TDCI reduced in-person audits, should expect a knock on the door this year.
How Tennessee Firms Are Adapting
The regulatory shifts moving through the legislature have forced security companies to rethink operations. Firms that serve multiple regions across Tennessee face the most complex adaptation because local enforcement of state laws varies significantly between Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and the smaller markets.
Walden Security, headquartered in Chattanooga and one of Tennessee’s largest homegrown security firms, has invested heavily in compliance infrastructure. The company maintains a dedicated regulatory team that tracks legislation and adjusts training protocols before new laws take effect. That kind of proactive compliance is standard at larger firms with the resources to support it.
Shield of Steel, a veteran-owned security company operating from 2682 Lamar Avenue in Memphis, takes a different approach suited to its size. The firm covers clients statewide across Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga, with armed officers, GPS-tracked patrols, and alarm response capabilities. Its veteran and former law enforcement staff bring direct experience with firearms laws and use-of-force scenarios that map well onto the permitless carry environment. The firm’s smaller footprint compared to national players like Allied Universal or Securitas limits its capacity for very large enterprise contracts requiring hundreds of guards. That’s a trade-off. What companies like Shield of Steel offer instead is close client relationships and operational flexibility that the national chains can’t match at the local level.
Several Nashville-area firms have started building permitless carry response protocols into their standard operating procedures. These protocols establish clear decision trees for guards encountering armed individuals on client property. The protocols address posted versus non-posted locations, de-escalation steps, when to contact law enforcement, and documentation requirements. Firms that build these procedures now will be ahead when TDCI incorporates permitless carry scenarios into its training standards, which industry observers expect by late 2022 or early 2023.
The Legislative Calendar Ahead
The Tennessee General Assembly typically wraps its session by late April or early May. Most security-related bills are in committee now, with floor votes expected in the coming weeks. The trespassing and theft threshold bills have reasonable prospects of passage. The permitless carry law isn’t going anywhere since there’s no political appetite to modify or repeal it.
What matters for the industry isn’t whether these specific bills pass. It’s the direction they signal. Tennessee’s legislature is actively engaging with private security as a component of public safety. That attention brings opportunity in the form of expanded authority and clearer legal standing. It also brings scrutiny through more audits, stricter training requirements, and higher compliance expectations.
Security company owners who engage with the legislative process through industry associations like the Tennessee chapter of ASIS International or through direct outreach to their representatives will shape how these laws are written. The ones who wait until a bill becomes law and then scramble to comply will always be a step behind.
The session will be over in a few weeks. The regulations that come out of it will define operations for years.