Subject: TFA Questions “Endorsements” Prior to Tennessee Primaries

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 6/27/16
CONTACT – johnharris@tennesseefirearms.com

TFA Questions “Endorsements” Prior to Tennessee Primaries

Offers That Such “Endorsements” Contribute Little to Voter Education
 
NASHVILLE, TN:  John Harris, Executive Director, Tennessee Firearms Association, expressed the organization's caution to voters about the rash of “endorsements” coming out of some State and National policy and advocacy groups.  For the past three weeks, scarcely a news cycle has passed without some sort of statement from a one group or another about an official “endorsement”.  With less than five weeks until the August 4 primary, candidates, primarily incumbents, often use these statements in an attempt to influence voter decisions.
 
“Having been involved in Second Amendment advocacy in Tennessee for over 20 years, TFA has seldom “endorsed” a candidate,” said Harris.  “We put our money where our mission is.  We support both incumbents and opponents based upon their efforts to carry and co-sponsor legislation, support legislation, champion the 2nd Amendment, and TFA opposes incumbents who have proven that they do not.”
 
One need only pay passing attention to some of these endorsements to realize that they rarely given to opponents to incumbents even if the challenger has a clear history of being stronger on an issue.  If an elected official is not friendly to a policy group, the group generally does nothing rather than endorse a challenger.
 
TFA Member Jeff Hartline knows this all too well.  “When I ran for Congress in 2010, all these groups demanded to have their surveys filled out and many asked for personal meetings.  In the end, none of them supported the long term Democrat incumbent, but none of them chose to support any other candidate for fear of alienating the eventual primary winner if they ‘chose poorly’”.  Hartline continued, “Candidates running against incumbents whom I have helped during the past five years have experienced exactly the same treatment -- reams of surveys, minuscule endorsement and even less in monetary contributions to challenge an incumbent.”
 
TFA has not made its support decisions based upon incumbency.  Again, TFA Director John Harris.  “Our mission at TFA is to move 2nd Amendment legislation without regard for incumbents or challengers.  We’re not afraid to support challengers who are running against incumbents who either do not support our mission or who use their offices to derail bills that advance the citizens’ right to ‘keep and bear arms’.  Similarly, TFA is not hesitant about supporting incumbents who are strong even if they are in the minority party or principled incumbents are not considered by the party's leadership to be 'team players' who only do whatever they are told by leadership.”
 
Harris continued, “Some advocacy groups, be they State or National, exhibit little courage at times by taking the easy path in order to avoid the wrath of leadership or an incumbent.  Just because an incumbent has cast one vote in your favor the past several years is often reason enough to ‘endorse’ that candidate, even when a challenger has demonstrated a more committed position for their particular issue.  The fact is, the committee process in the Tennessee Legislature, particularly in the House of Representatives, works to shield some incumbents from being exposed on their real views by letting them avoid having to make votes on the public record.”  In that type of an environment, endorsements based only on a few choreographed public votes or bill sponsorships can easily mislead voters to believe that an incumbent is good on an issue when sometimes they are the source of the problem.
 
“We have made it a habit to get in the fight with candidates who support our mission.  We do not put our finger into the wind.  At TFA, we put our finger on the support ‘trigger’.  We believe if you’re afraid to pull the trigger, you’ll never hit the target.”
 
The Tennessee Firearms Association was founded in 1995 and formed to defend the right to keep and bear arms with a specific focus on Tennessee. The TFA is Tennessee’s only no-compromise gun group.   www.tennesseefirearms.com

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