NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican state Sen. Mike Faulk won't seek a second term in the General Assembly's upper chamber.

The Kingsport attorney said in a statement released Thursday that he is retiring from the Legislature to spend more time with his ailing mother and to attend to his legal practice.

Fifty-eight-year-old Faulk won the seat in 2008 by defeating incumbent Sen. Mike Williams, who had shed his Republican Party affiliation to become an independent. Williams has since been elected mayor of Union County.

Faulk is the sponsor this year of a bill seeking to require businesses to allow workers to store firearms in vehicles parked on company lots.

The measure is supported by the National Rifle Association, but opposed by business and law enforcement groups.