| Legislative Calendar - Week of March 28, 2022
We are expecting HB2524 by Rep. Jerry Sexton to be heard in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee this week. HB2524 would implement REAL constitutional carry in Tennessee if adopted. This is an issue which many other states have adopted with Vermont having it as part of its law since the 1700s. There is no constitutional reason for Tennessee to continue to have a law that makes it a crime for a law abiding citizen to carry a legally possessed firearm in public. However, this bill is receiving opposition from the Department of Safety and other state agencies.
In addition, several pro 2nd Amendment bills have already been derailed at least until 2023. There are several bills that are still possible for passage and some of these are on notice to be heard next week. All of these bills are listed in the attached PDF.
Here is what we are asking you to do:
1) Call your House and Senate members. Ask them to SUPPORT bills that we support. Some of these bills are highlighted in this message and others are listed in the attached PDF. To do that they should a) tell the bill sponsors that they want the legislation passed and b) sign on as co-sponsors. Follow up with phone calls every day or so to make sure they do it.
If it is a bill we are recommending to OPPOSE - call your members and insist that they contact both the sponsors and the committee members to demand that the bill be stopped. If you don't know who your legislators are, you can look it up on the state website. Email addresses for committee members are included in the attached PDF.
2) Contact by phone and email the members of the committee which are to hear these bills. You don't have to leave a long message or debate with them. Simply state that you are a concerned Tennessee citizen and TFA member. Tell them you SUPPORT (and want the bill passed into law) or you OPPOSE (and want the bill killed). Keep track of who you talk to and what their responses were.
3) Go to the TFA Facebook page and share not only your efforts but also the responses you received. Let's support those legislators who do the right things and lets REPLACE and EXPOSE the ones who do not.
SUPPORT:
HB2524
by Rep. J. Sexton is set for Tuesday (normally on Wednesdays) at 9:00am in the House Criminal
Justice subcommittee. It removes the offense of carrying a firearm with
the intent to go armed. If enacted, this is a major step toward true
constitutional carry. This bill is receiving substantial opposition from the spokesperson for the Department of Safety. This is the legislation to enacted REAL constitutional carry in Tennessee. Several Republican legislators and the governor's administration are working against it!
HB2323
by Rep. Grills is set for Tuesday at 9:00am in the House Criminal
Justice subcommittee. It
would clarify the definition of deadly force to exclude situations
where force is used to make a citizen's arrest. See also SB2638.
SB2866
by Sen Bailey is set for Tuesday at 1:00pm in the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is the Senate version of HB2524. It removes the offense of carrying a firearm with
the intent to go armed. If enacted, this is a major step toward true
constitutional carry. This bill is receiving substantial opposition from the spokesperson for the Department of Safety. This
is the legislation to enacted REAL constitutional carry in Tennessee.
SB2291
by Sen Bell is set for Tuesday at 1:00pm in the Senate Judiciary
Committee. It would allow individuals 18 and older to obtain a handgun permit (current law is limited to those 18-20 year olds who are in or retired from the military).
HB1735
by Rep. Todd is set for Tuesday at 3:00pm in the House Finance
committee. This bill would allow those 18 and up and otherwise meets all
statutory qualifications to apply for a handgun permit.
OPPOSE:
HB1830 by Rep. Parkinson is
set for Tuesday in the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee at 9:00
a.m. and would have the Department of Health treat "gun violence" as a
health issue which is typically a predecessor move in a gun control
agenda.
HB2850 by Rep. Kumar is set for Wednesday in the House Civil Justice Committee at 12:30 pm. This bill has been amended to allow any resident of the state to obtain a voucher for up to $30 to obtain a Department of Safety approved handgun safety course. TFA opposes this bill because the state's taxpayers should not be funding private training classes for citizens.
HB2599
by Rep. McKenzie is set for Wednesday in the House Health Committee at 2:00 pm. This bill would treat "gun violence" as a public health
issue and require state funds to be expended to create reports designed
to support future gun control legislation in Tennessee.
TFALAC Annual Event
Finally,
the TFALAC (TFA’s political action committee) has set its annual BBQ
lunch and auction for Saturday, September 3, 2022 at the Farm Bureau
Expo Center in Wilson county, Tennessee. Please sign up as sponsors, vendors or purchase your tables and tickets. |
