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August 24, 2023
Rep. Jeremy Faison awards the Tennessee Senate the 2023 Ostrich Egg Award.
Bill Lee’s decision to call a Special Session in which he wanted the
Legislature to pass a Red Flag law (see item 12 in his August 8, 2023, proclamation)
has provided the framework for a Legislative disaster in Tennessee all
centered around Lee’s decision to try to force the Legislature to pass
his Red Flag law. In doing so Governor Lee and many Legislators have
blatantly ignored the United States Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen,
in which the Court made clear that any regulation of rights protected
by the Second Amendment must be shown by the government to be a
restriction that existed (or a close analogue) as part of the nation’s
historical tradition as of 1791. The decision to call a
special legislative sessions is in the discretion of the governor but it
is subject to constitutional limits. One it must be in response to an
“extraordinary occasion” and second it must have a specific purpose.
Bill Lee called one for “public safety” and included 18 wide ranging,
very general and non-specific topics like “stalking”, “mental health”
and court system reform in his agenda. The proclamation itself
evidences Lee’s blatant disregard for constitutional parameters. Then,
consider the carnival sideshow that has resulted. Was the legislative
response measured to address an “extraordinary occasion” and limited to
a specific purpose. Well, as of 9:00 a.m. on August 24, the Legislators have filed:
– 114 House bills
– 109 Senate bills
– 53 House Joint resolutions
– 143 Senate Joint resolutions
– 17 House resolutions
– 1 Senate resolution
One could easily conclude that this was viewed as a “general session”
with so many bills filed allegedly regarding “public safety”. Consider
for example, House Bills 7017 through 7022 by Rep. Anthony Davis which
seek to create new criminal offenses as “a hate crime, which shall be
punished one classification higher than otherwise provided if the
defendant committed the act of mass violence against the other person
due to the person’s status as a healthcare provider who provides
gender-affirming care.” Similar bills were filed to create enhanced
punishments as hate crimes based on the victim’s “status as a healthcare
provider who performs abortions.” Certainly, these issues have nothing
to do with an “extraordinary occasion” much less the Covenant murders.
But numerous bills like these were filed because Bill Lee ignored the
purpose of the constitutional conditions on special sessions.
As of August 24, 2023, the Senate has passed only 3 bills out of
committee (excluding resolutions and appropriations) and none of those 3
substantively did anything to negatively impact gun owners. In
contrast, the House has passed 32 bills out of its subcommittees, more
evidence that the House and its leaders are treating this as a general
session rather than one limited to an extraordinary occasion. This
difference between the willingness of the House to pass roughly a
quarter of the bills that were filed compared to the Senate’s choice to
pass far fewer is something to note. Apparently, it was noted by House
Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison who reportedly
somehow managed to acquire an ostrich egg during the commotions of the
special session and used it (or at least used the House Republicans
Twitter account) to award the Senate GOP “the 2023 Ostrich Egg” for the
Senate’s decision to not pass as many bills as the House which the
Twitter post claims “the people sent us here to do”.
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| Curiously, Rep. Faison’s delusions about who “sent them” to special
session ignored the fact that only Bill Lee made that decision. In
fact, the overwhelming outcry of Republicans and the express vote of the
Tennessee Republic State Executive Committee was
that no special session should be held at all. Of course, Rep. Faison
could have been referring to the Democrats that sent Justin Jones,
Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson to the Legislature to enact gun
control.
The special session has costs the taxpayers likely
hundreds of thousands of dollars in Legislative fees and expenses. It
has cost the state an unknown amount for the perhaps 500-600 state
troopers that were either sent to Nashville or put on standby for a
potential security crisis. It has likely cost Nashville and potentially
other local governments an unknown amount for perhaps 500-1000 local
law enforcement that were told to be prepared for deployment to
Nashville. The question is was Bill Lee’s demand for a special
session to pass his gun control agenda, which included a Red Flag
proposal, really worth it or was this just a “do something” effort to
appease some Tennesseans (and many from outside Tennessee) who seize any
opportunity to demand gun control.
There are useful consequences of the Governor’s demand for a Red Flag
law and a special session (which has so far proved to be fruitless).
For example, there is now no doubt that Bill Lee ignores the Second
Amendment and the Supreme Court. There is no doubt that Bill Lee is not
to be trusted to protect our rights under the Second Amendment or for
that matter other parts of the Bill of Rights. There is no doubt that
Bill Lee is willing to waste taxpayer dollars to try and pressure the
Legislature to do what he – as nothing more than an administrator –
wants done. There is no doubt that Bill Lee supports gun control.
But there are other consequences. We now know that Lt. Governor
McNally personally supports Red Flag laws even if other Senators do not.
We know that some Senators, like Sen. Art Swann,
wants to advance gun control by banning what he considers to be assault
weapons. We can examine the bills, proposed amendments and statements
of other senators that arose in this special session to decide who to
support and who must be opposed in the 2024 and 2026 election cycles.
Further,
the shenanigans in the House provide even greater opportunities to
identify and potentially replace legislators in the 2024 election cycle.
The events also shed light on whether certain legislators should not
be considered as committee chairs and provide a basis to question the
committee assignment choices by Speaker Sexton. Indeed, conservatives
may now find an ally in some Senators who were offended if not insulted
by being awarded the 2023 Ostrich Egg award at least with respect to
House member incumbent re-election efforts or leadership roles. But
there is more because the numerous house bills and resolutions
(including committee statements) – primarily those by the Republicans –
offer plenty of details that will be considered when it comes time to
supporting some incumbents (who have stood firm on the 2nd Amendment
promises) and opposing others who are proven failures at protecting our
constitutionally protected rights.
Finally, it should be clear to all Second Amendment supporters that
the Red Flag Down campaign does not end when Bill Lee’s Special Session
ends. There can be no question that Bill Lee, his Democrat supporters,
and many of his “team player” Republicans will be working from this
point forward to pass Red Flag and other gun control measures going
forward. Rather than the ending the need to dig in and fight for our
rights, the end of the Special Session is the calling card across the
state to re-evaluate which individuals are “bona fide” Republicans,
which should be retained and even elevated into leadership, which should
be replaced in future primaries, which should be removed from existing
leadership positions. Now is the time to search out those Tennesseans
who have the characteristics of constitutional stewardship to help them
and encourage them to step forward in public service to replace the ones
who have proven that they lack those constitutional stewardship
qualities.
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Your
involvement is critical to help stop Bill Lee's proposed Red Flag
legislation and his other gun control proposals.
Please take action now and help the TFALAC (a state political action committee) raise funds for its #RedFlagDown
mission to produce radio spots, social media campaigns, and other "get
out the word" measures to stop Bill Lee's insistence that the state of
Tennessee should be enacting gun control and other proposals that could materially impact the rights of Tennesseans. |
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Executive Director
johnharris@tennesseefirearms.com
Joining and supporting TFA is an investment in the
fight to restore our constitutional rights and to fight against politicians who
are willing to sell their votes and your rights to whichever business interest
gives them the most money!
TFA Website: www.tennesseefirearms.com
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