As Nashville residents reeled from a fatal grade school shooting that left six dead, a federal judge quietly cleared the way to drop the minimum age for Tennesseans to carry handguns publicly without a permit to 18 — just two years after a new law set the age at 21.
The move marked yet another relaxation of gun laws in ruby red Tennessee, where GOP leaders have steadily chipped away at firearms regulations and lambasted those who have warned that doing so comes at a cost.
