Tennessee’s August primary election is
Thursday, August 6, 2026. As Election Day approaches, Tennessee Firearms
Association is receiving a substantial number of questions about
candidate surveys, interviews, campaign contributions, and endorsements.
The most common question is straightforward: Who has TFA endorsed?
More precisely, the most common theme is who is TFA supporting in the
Republican primary for governor.
The answer is that TFA has not endorsed any candidate.
Understanding that answer requires
recognizing the important distinction between Tennessee Firearms
Association and the Tennessee Firearms Association Legislative Action
Committee.
Tennessee Firearms Association is a
nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization recognized under §501(c)(4)
of the Internal Revenue Code. TFA is a true grassroots organization that
engages government with and on behalf of its members. It and its
members work for the full restoration of rights protected by the Bill of
Rights, with particular emphasis on the right to keep and bear arms.
TFA’s primary mission is advocacy, not campaign activity.
Federal tax law permits a §501(c)(4)
organization to engage in extensive lobbying related to its mission. A
§501(c)(4) organization may also engage in some political campaign
activity, but that activity cannot become its primary activity, and
political expenditures may have separate tax consequences. Further,
state law requires that entities which engage in political endorsements
or candidate opposition register and file disclosures of its fundraising
and expenditures. To protect TFA’s mission, resources, and tax
status, TFA follows a conservative organizational policy: TFA does not
endorse or oppose candidates. Instead, TFA concentrates its
election-related work on gathering and publishing information that
allows voters to evaluate candidates for themselves.
TFA generally conducts candidate surveys
for candidates seeking the office of governor and for candidates seeking
election to the Tennessee General Assembly. The process is designed to
be transparent. TFA prepares written questions concerning the Second
Amendment, constitutional rights, firearms laws, judicial review, and
other matters that may come before the governor or the General Assembly.
The survey is mailed to every candidate identified through the
applicable state records as having qualified for the office.
TFA then publishes the complete survey
questions, the names of the candidates who responded, each candidate’s
answers, and a numerical score based on the candidate’s affirmative
responses. TFA also reports when a candidate fails or declines to
respond.
TFA does not assign candidates subjective
letter grades such as “A,” “B,” or “C.” Such grades can conceal how an
organization reached its conclusion and can allow personal preference or
favoritism to influence the result. TFA instead publishes the
candidates’ own answers so that members and voters can read the
questions, review the responses, and reach their own conclusions.
In selected election years, TFA also
offers structured video interviews to candidates for certain offices.
For 2026, TFA invited the candidates for the Republican nomination for
governor to participate in individual interviews concerning Second
Amendment issues. These interviews are not free-form or “gotcha”
interviews. Every invited candidate receives the substantive questions
in advance. During the interview, TFA asks the questions from that
written list. Except for introductory remarks, TFA does not add new
substantive questions or demand unanticipated answers. The purpose is to
give each candidate the same opportunity to explain his or her
positions directly to Tennessee voters and to do so without limit or
coaching with followup questions.
Monty Fritts and John Rose immediately agreed to participate, and TFA published both interviews on its website.
Marsha Blackburn did not participate. Again, TFA reports the facts and
presents the interviews so that voters can listen to the candidates’ own
words and make their own decisions.
Publishing a candidate’s survey responses
is not an endorsement. Interviewing a candidate is not an endorsement.
Reporting that another candidate declined to participate is not an
endorsement. TFA has invested substantial time and resources to help
voters determine where candidates stand on the Second Amendment. TFA’s
role is to provide the information; the voter’s role is to evaluate it.
The Tennessee Firearms Association
Legislative Action Committee, commonly known as TFALAC, is separate from
TFA. TFALAC is a Tennessee-registered political action committee.
Unlike TFA, TFALAC may make campaign contributions, independent
expenditures, and endorsements, subject to applicable campaign-finance
laws and reporting requirements. Further, TFALAC is not an unknown
entity that suddenly surfaced during the campaign. It has been in
existence since 1996 and thus has a history of three decades of
engagement.
TFALAC has historically invited
candidates, elected officials, and other individuals with records of
involvement in Second Amendment matters to participate in its annual
events. Numerous state and federal officials representing Tennessee have
participated over the years. In 2025, both John Rose and Monty Fritts
attended and spoke at TFALAC’s Annual Event. Marsha Blackburn does not
have a similar history of attending TFALAC events.
TFALAC’s public campaign-finance
disclosure reports reflect that it made 2026 campaign contributions to
both Monty Fritts and John Rose. This was not because they came to that event. TFALAC took into consideration voting histories, years of engagement, survey responses and interview content. TFALAC contributed to both because,
after consulting with a significant number of Second Amendment
supporters who attend its events and support its activities, it was
clear that Tennessee’s active Second Amendment grassroots were
substantially divided between Fritts and Rose. Both candidates had
significant support among those activists.
Those contributions were decisions made by
TFALAC, the political action committee. They were not endorsements by
TFA, the §501(c)(4) advocacy organization.
TFA members and Tennessee voters do not
have to rely solely on campaign advertisements, mail pieces, slogans, or
third-party candidate ratings. They can review the actual questions TFA
asked, the candidates’ written answers, the candidates’ numerical
survey results, the names of candidates who did not respond, the
complete video interviews, and the publicly filed campaign-finance
disclosure reports.
TFA encourages every voter who values the
right to keep and bear arms to review that information before voting. Do
not assume that a party label, campaign advertisement, outside
endorsement, or subjective letter grade tells you what a candidate will
actually do once elected. Read the answers, watch the interviews,
examine the record, and then make your own informed decision.
Election Day is Thursday, August 6, 2026.
Your rights will be affected by the people elected this week. Take the
time to know where the candidates stand and vote like your rights depend on it - because they do.
|
