Plaintiffs oppose requests of Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and Governor Bill Lee to continue enforcing unconstitutional gun control laws
On August 22, 2025, a three judge panel completely struck down
as unconstitutional two of Tennessee’s more egregious gun control
statutes – one which makes it a crime to carry a firearm with the
“intent to go armed” and another which banned carrying certain weapons
in parks, greenways, campgrounds and other recreational areas.
Significantly, Governor Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti,
in their official capacities, are the defendants and they have fought
to preserve these unconstitutional statutes the entire time.
On September 2, 2025, Governor Bill Lee, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and the remaining state defendants filed a notice of appeal. Sheriff Paul Thomas, who is not represented by Skrmetti, did not appeal.
Then, also on September 2, 2025, Attorney General Skrmetti filed a
motion to stay the effectiveness of the three-judge panel ruling until
the court of appeals could hear the case. In the state’s motion for
stay, it admits in the very first sentence that “[i]n the clarifying
light of Bruen, the constitutional infirmities of some of Tennessee’s
gun laws are hard to miss.” Indeed, Lee and Skrmetti also admit in
their motion that “Defendants have acknowledged that there are
unconstitutional applications of these statutes. Ds’ MSJ, at 16.” Skrmetti/Lee Motion for Stay, p. 5. Those admissions, coupled with the constitutionally required oath of office ( Lee and Skrmetti), may cause some to question whether the act of appealing itself is a violation of their respective oaths of office.
On September 8, 2025, the Hughes Plaintiffs filed a response in
opposition to the Lee/Skrmetti motion to stay the declaratory ruling.
In this response, the Plaintiffs point out numerous reasons why the
state Defendants are not entitled to a stay. For example, the state
Defendants claimed that without the ability to enforce these
unconstitutional statutes that drunks might carry longarms in public.
Yet, the state Defendants still have other laws such as those that
prohibit public intoxication, assault or reckless endangerment that are
not impacted by the court’s ruling. Tennesseans are seeing clearly that their rights are not being
protected by Bill Lee, Jonathan Skrmetti, his staff attorneys, state
agencies and legislators (particularly those who have called for or
supported the appeal).
What can you do now?
- join Tennessee Firearms Association to help continue the fight both in the courts and in the Legislature
- take copies of the opinion and TFA’s reports to your legislators and
demand answers as to why they failed to take action so that this
lawsuit would not have been required
- ask your legislators whether they opposed, supported or just sat by silently on the issue of the appeal
- ask your legislators for copies of their communications with the
Governor or the Attorney General concerning this lawsuit or the appeal
and provide those to TFA to share with others
- ask your legislators to identify for you other legislators who have blocked prior efforts to legislatively repeal these statutes
- find constitutionally minded stewards to replace the legislators, governors and the attorney general who have failed us
If you appreciate this effort, this ruling and TFA’s dedication to
protecting our rights, please consider joining and supporting TFA by
being a member. Further, if you would like to help fund this and other
litigation efforts, please consider a tax deductible contribution to the
Tennessee Firearms Foundation.
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