4-7-110 - Retired commission card Retention of service weapon and badge by retired members.
4-7-110. Retired commission card Retention of service weapon and badge by retired members.
(a) (1) Any commissioned member of the department of safety who retires after twenty-five (25) years of honorable service shall be issued by the department a retired commission card, which shall identify the member, the member's department and rank, and the fact that the member is retired.
(2) Cards issued under this provision shall bear the inscription in print of equal or larger size than the rest of the printing on such cards the words Not a handgun permit.
(3) After twenty-five (25) years of honorable service by a commissioned member of the department, the department shall authorize such member, upon retirement, to retain such member's service weapon in recognition of such member's many years of good and faithful public service.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the department to purchase any additional service weapons.
(5) In the case of commissioned members who retire on disability retirement as provided in title 8, chapter 36, they may be issued retired commission cards and may be authorized to retain their service weapons.
(b) Any commissioned member, who retires after twenty-five (25) years of honorable service, shall be allowed to retain such member's badge in recognition of such member's many years of good and faithful service. The badge, however, shall be permanently marked to indicate the retired status of the member. This subsection (b) shall only apply to members retiring after July 1, 1987.
(c) (1) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, if a commissioned member of the department of safety dies or is killed in the line of duty, the department shall be authorized to present the member's service weapon to the member's surviving spouse or children, or, if the member had no spouse or children, to the member's parents.
(2) If the surviving child or children are under twenty-one (21) years of age, the service weapon shall be given into the custody of the child's legal guardian to be held until the child or eldest surviving child attains the age of twenty-one (21).
(3) If the surviving spouse, child or children, surviving parents or legal guardian of such person is not eligible to possess a firearm under federal or state law, the department shall not present the service weapon to them.
[Acts 1974, ch. 710, § 1; 1976, ch. 718, § 1; T.C.A., § 4-714; Acts 1982, ch. 657, § 1; 1987, ch. 88, § 2; 1996, ch. 675, § 2; 2009, ch. 147, § 1.]