The Supreme Court starts on June 30 sending Second Amendment cases back to the appellate courts with instructions to "do it right" this time
On June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court decided the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association case in favor of protecting your Second Amendment rights. Tennessee Firearms Association had joined with other organizations and represented your interest in amicus filings in that case.
But today, there is more great news. On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court still had pending before it petitions for discretionary review in a number of other cases which also address a spectrum of Second Amendment issues. Tennessee Firearms Association had joined Gun Owners of America as an amicus party in the case of Duncan v. Bonta but there are other cases. What the Supreme Court has done in a few of these cases is to summarily grant the petition for review and remain it to the appellate court for a “do over” in light of the Supreme Court’s decision last week with docket entries such as this!
Petition GRANTED. Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED for further consideration in light of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U. S. ___ (2022).
This is a major turn of events for gun owners and conservatives across the nation. However, it does not mean that we have won the fight because it is clear that just as occurred post-Heller the states, the federal agencies and many of the lower district and appellate courts will invent all new ways to try and circumvent the clarity of the Second Amendment’s mandate that our rights “shall not be infringed”
The desperate need for such reform is clear in Tennessee. Tennessee’s entire law is based on the premise that it is a crime for anyone to carry a firearm with the intent to go armed. Last week the Supreme Court said that such a premise is unconstitutional even though Tennessee was not defending its law in that case – the holding still is clear. Indeed, there is no “right” as Tennessee law now exists. Every means that exists in Tennessee for a citizen to carry a firearm with the intent to be armed – even in their own home – is written as a statutory “defense” or “exception” to a criminal charge and in every instance the burden is on the citizen to show to a jury that the facts are such that the citizen’s conduct meets the statutory requirements to rely on the defense. Clearly, even Tennessee’s two handgun permit laws and Governor Lee’s 2021 “permitless carry law” (which is often mislabeled as “constitutional carry”) are nothing more than statutory defenses to the crime of carrying a firearm with intent to go armed. See, Tenn. Code Ann. Sections 39-17-1307 and -1308.
While the Supreme Court is doing its part by deciding the New York case and sending others back to the appellate courts, Tennesseans must rise up and demand that its flawed, unconstitutional statutory scheme be immediately corrected either in a special session called by Governor Lee (yeah, like that will happen) or as soon as the Legislature starts its next session in January 2023. We can’t assume the legislators, some of whom will be elected in November, will do the right thing – we have to put the pressure on them as elected stewards to hold them accountable.
As Ronald Reagan said ““When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.” – Tennessee Firearms Association and you have been showing them the “light” for years, now its time to start the bon fires.
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