Tennessee committee hears hours of testimony on bill to ban routine firearm-ownership questions by health providers

Senate Bill 474, introduced by Sen. Sandra Bolling, would prohibit a health care provider from asking a patient about firearm ownership in most clinical encounters while carving out exceptions for emergency care, first responders, and licensed mental-health professionals. The bill was discussed at length before the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on May 20, 2025, and the sponsor asked that the measure be carried over to the second calendar of 2026 for further work.

The measure’s sponsor, Senator Sandra Bolling, said the bill is intended to protect patients “from having to subject themselves to an ideology-based inquiry” and to preserve the doctor–patient relationship when questions about guns are unrelated to the medical visit. She told the committee the bill “carefully carves out…