NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Tennessee’s state Senate has passed a bill that gives anyone legally allowed to own a gun the right to openly carry it without a permit.

“I can honestly say I was shocked,” said the bill’s sponsor Mae Beavers, R- Mt. Juliet. “I was looking through state law one day and I said to myself, ‘Hold on! We’re not allowed to do that?’ Then I got right to work drafting the bill.”

The rest of the state Senate was equally surprised and eager to set things straight. The bill passed by a wide margin of 25-2.

“I’m just happy we can start to put this dark period in our state’s history behind us,” said Sen. Lowe Finney, D-Jackson. “No longer can people say that Tennessee stands in the way of progressive firearm reform.”

The rest of the nation was somewhat taken aback by the news, surprised not because the bill passed, but because it had taken this long for Tennessee to do so.

“Huh, I kinda just assumed you could do what you wanted in regards to guns over there,” said neighboring Senator Roy Blunt, R- Mo. in an official statement.

As the companion bill awaits a vote in the budget subcommittee of the House Finance Committee, life continues as normal for average Tennesseans.

“Legally, I feel obligated to tell you that if you are tempted to openly carrying a firearm without a permit today, you should wait for the bill to go through first,” added Beavers. “But honestly, we don’t really care and you’re probably not going to listen to us anyways.”

If the bill passes in the budget subcommittee, Tennessee will join 30 other states in allowing open carry without a permit.