Tennessee runs a two-track permit system with separate fee schedules, and constitutional carry on top with no fee at all.
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Tennessee runs a two-track permit system with separate fee schedules, and constitutional carry on top with no fee at all.
All fees go to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, which issues both the Enhanced permit under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351 and the Concealed permit under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1366. There is no county-sheriff filing fee in Tennessee; the sheriff receives an internal $15 cut of the application fee from the department, but the applicant pays the state.
If you are choosing between permits on price alone: the CCP is $35 cheaper to start, but it limits you to concealed carry, restricts your reciprocity, and bars carry at any public or private school or university. The Enhanced is more expensive but is the full-reciprocity vehicle and is required for any open carry under a permit. See PERMIT_BASICS and RECIPROCITY for the trade-off.
Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351 governs the Enhanced permit. The current schedule, after years of amendments through Public Chapter No. 1101 (2018), Public Chapter No. 479 (2019), and Public Chapter No. 1000 (2022), is:
The Department of Safety's published fee table at tn.gov/safety/tnhp/handgun/permitfees.html confirms each figure. The fee is the same whether you submit online through the Tennessee Department of Safety's portal or in person at a Driver Services Center. Tennessee permits run on an 8-year cycle (the standard cycle since the 2018 reforms), measured from the date of issuance.
Of the $100 application fee, the department distributes $52.15 to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for the criminal-history records check and systems maintenance and $15.00 to the sheriff of the applicant's county of residence under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(p)(3), with the remaining $32.85 retained by the Handgun Permit Division for administrative costs. Those distribution amounts come from the most recent Department of Safety fiscal note (FY24-25 and FY26-27), which aggregates the per-application TBI total at $52.15 ($12.00 remitted to the FBI for the national check, $13.15 to the fingerprint vendor, and the balance retained by TBI for state background-check operations and database upkeep). An earlier fiscal note from the PC 1000 (2022) era itemized the TBI portion differently: $15.00 for TBI database maintenance plus $31.15 for TBI fingerprint and FBI checks, for a $46.15 TBI total, $15.00 to the sheriff, and $38.85 retained by HPD. The applicant in either case pays a single $100 to the department, not three separate line items; only the internal allocation between TBI and HPD shifted between fiscal cycles.
Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1366, added by 2019 Public Chapter No. 479, created the concealed-only permit. The statute sets the fees directly:
The lower $65 ceiling is established in the statute itself, not in a regulation. The CCP is processed on the same online portal as the Enhanced permit and uses the same Driver Services Center fingerprinting workflow; the only difference is which training certificate you upload (an online 90-minute CCP course satisfies Sec. 39-17-1366; the Enhanced permit requires an 8-hour in-person course under Sec. 39-17-1351(a)(2) and Rule 1340-02-03).
Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(x) authorizes a Lifetime Enhanced permit. As of the current Department of Safety fee schedule:
A Lifetime Enhanced permit does not expire. The department conducts a name-based criminal-history records check every five years and revokes the permit if a disqualifying conviction surfaces. There is no recurring fee to the holder for those background checks.
Public Chapter No. 396 (2019), codified at Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(x)(5), waives the application fee entirely for a Lifetime Enhanced permit if the applicant:
The applicant must submit form SF-1551 (Verification of Retired Police Officer for Lifetime Handgun Carry Permit), or a letter from the agency on letterhead certifying years of service and retirement in good standing.
Public Chapter No. 866 (May 18, 2014) directs the Department of Safety to charge a qualifying military applicant for an Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit "only that portion of the initial enhanced handgun carry permit application fee that is necessary to conduct the required criminal history record check." The department implements this at:
To claim the discount, the applicant must provide one of:
The military discount does not waive the training requirement. Active and discharged service members must still complete the 8-hour course or qualify for the statutory military training exemption under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(b)(1) and (c)(15).
A replacement (duplicate) permit card is $5.00 for any permit type, paid to the Department of Safety. The duplicate fee covers loss, damage, or change of name or address. Checks are accepted for duplicates, unlike for original applications.
Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1307(g), enacted by Public Chapter No. 108 (2021), authorizes any person at least 21 years of age (or 18 to 20 for honorably discharged or active-duty military) who is lawfully in possession of a handgun to carry it openly or concealed in public without a permit, subject to the same place restrictions that apply to permit holders. Subsequent 2024 legislation lowered the carry age and the Enhanced, Lifetime Enhanced, and Concealed permit application age from 21 to 18, consistent with Sixth Circuit litigation over Tennessee's age limits; see CONSTITUTIONAL_CARRY for the full statutory and litigation history.
There is no application, no fingerprinting, no training requirement, and no fee for constitutional carry under Sec. 39-17-1307(g). Constitutional carry status does not exempt the carrier from felon-in-possession bars, age requirements, or place restrictions at Sec. 39-17-1306 (judicial proceedings), Sec. 39-17-1309 (schools), Sec. 39-17-1311 (city/county/state property), Sec. 39-17-1305 (alcohol-served premises), or posted properties under Sec. 39-17-1359. See PROHIBITED_PLACES.
The trade-off for paying for a permit anyway is the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act exemption under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 922(q), reciprocity in other states (see RECIPROCITY), NICS-alternative status for the Enhanced permit at a Tennessee FFL counter (the Concealed-only permit is not currently on the ATF Brady chart - verify at atf.gov), and access to vehicle-carry and posted-property carve-outs that do not extend to constitutional carriers.
Tennessee Department of Safety policy treats application fees as nonrefundable. If your application is denied, the fee is not returned. The Department of Safety's fee structure recovers the cost of running the TBI background check, the FBI fingerprint check through III, the local-sheriff verification, and permit issuance, all of which are performed regardless of approval or denial.
If your application is denied, you have appeal rights under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(o), but the original fee is not refunded.
Several real-world costs apply to permit applicants but are not part of the statutory fee structure. They vary by vendor.
The state requires Enhanced applicants to complete an 8-hour handgun safety school certified under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351 and Rule 1340-02-03. CCP applicants must complete a Department of Safety-approved CCP course (online options exist) under Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1366(b)(4). Training fees are paid to the instructor, not the state.
The cost varies by instructor and is set at the instructor's discretion. Public guidance from the Department of Safety does not cap training fees. See TRAINING_REQUIREMENTS for the training rule structure. Voluntary additional training is on the applicant.
Tennessee uses electronic fingerprint capture at TN Driver Services Centers and at IdentoGO sites. The vendor (IdentoGO/IDEMIA) charges its own service fee, paid directly to the vendor, not to the Department of Safety. This is not the same as the $100 or $65 application fee; the application fee covers the TBI/FBI background search, not the act of capturing prints.
The vendor fee is typically a separate line item on the day of fingerprinting. Confirm the current amount at the time of scheduling at identogo.com.
Photographs for the permit card are captured at the Driver Services Center as part of the in-person step and are not charged separately.
If your Tennessee driver license is Real ID compliant, the Department of Safety offers an online "Finish Your Application" workflow at dl.safety.tn.gov that allows you to upload documents and pay the application fee without an in-person Driver Services Center visit. There is no separate convenience fee for online submission; you still pay the standard $100, $65, $300, or other applicable fee.
You may not lawfully carry under your expired permit during the gap between expiration and renewal in any setting that requires permit status (such as schools or other places where only permit holders are exempt). Constitutional carry still applies to qualifying carriers outside posted or place-restricted areas.
A Lifetime Enhanced permit has no expiration date and no renewal fee. The department runs a name-based criminal-history records check every five years and revokes the permit on discovery of a disqualifying conviction. The holder pays nothing for those checks.
The Department of Safety accepts the following payment methods.
Credit-card processor fees, if any, are charged by the third-party processor, not by the Department of Safety, and may be added to the transaction at checkout on the online portal.
| Permit Type and Action | Standard Fee | Military Fee | Statutory Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit, 8 years, initial | $100.00 | $65.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351; PC 866 (2014) |
| Enhanced Handgun Carry Permit, 8 years, renewal | $50.00 | $50.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(q)(1) |
| Lifetime Enhanced permit, initial (new applicant) | $300.00 | $265.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(x) |
| Lifetime Enhanced permit, upgrade from 8-year Enhanced | $200.00 | $200.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(x) |
| Lifetime Enhanced permit, upgrade from CCP | $300.00 | $265.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(x) |
| Retired LEO Lifetime Enhanced permit | FREE | FREE | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1351(x)(5); PC 396 (2019) |
| Concealed Handgun Carry Permit, 8 years, initial | $65.00 | $65.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1366(b)(5) |
| Concealed Handgun Carry Permit, 8 years, renewal | $50.00 | $50.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1366(j)(3) |
| Duplicate (replacement) card, any permit | $5.00 | $5.00 | Department of Safety fee schedule |
| Temporary permit (Order of Protection, Sec. 39-17-1365) | FREE | FREE | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1365 |
| Constitutional carry, Sec. 39-17-1307(g) | $0.00 | $0.00 | Tenn. Code Sec. 39-17-1307(g); PC 108 (2021); 2024 age-18 amendment |
These are real-world costs paid to vendors, not to the state.
| Cost Item | Amount | Paid To |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced 8-hour training course | Set by instructor | Certified instructor |
| CCP training course (online) | Set by provider | Department of Safety-approved provider |
| Electronic fingerprinting | Vendor fee | IdentoGO/IDEMIA |
| Ammunition, range time, equipment | Market | Range, dealer |
The Tennessee handgun carry permit fee framework is short, statutory, and tiered.
Fees are nonrefundable, paid to the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security at application or renewal, and are confirmed against the department's published fee schedule at tn.gov/safety/tnhp/handgun/permitfees.html. Training, fingerprinting (IdentoGO), and ammunition are real costs but are paid to vendors, not the state.
This page covers one part of our Tennessee concealed carry guide.
Read the complete Tennessee guideBrowse local instructors offering state-approved training in your area. Book online, complete your training, and get one step closer to your concealed carry permit.