The Tennessee Senate Judiciary, under the oversight of Chairman Todd Gardenhire, took up Senate Bill 1503 on March 21, 2023. The Senate Judiciary’s hearing on this bill evidences a cavernous void of constitutional stewardship by at least four Senate Republicans and two Senate Democrats on the committee.

The Senate Judiciary is appointed entirely by Lt. Gov. Randy McNally. It cannot be assumed that Lt. Gov. McNally, who has a history of opposing the Second Amendment. For this legislative session, Lt. Gov. McNally established the committee size to be 9 members. He appointed 2 Memphis Democrats and 7 others who identify as Republicans. Lt. Gov. McNally gave control of the committee to Sen. Todd Gardenhire, a Republican.

Senator John Stevens is carrying SB1503. It is the companion to House Bill 1005. House Bill 1005 has passed on March 15 in the House Civil Justice Committee and is moving forward now with Speaker Cameron Sexton as a co-sponsor. SB1503 was heard in the Senate Judiciary on March 21. Some members of the Senate Judiciary committee did serious damage to your constitutional rights by the abrogation of their oaths to uphold the constitution.

Initially, Senator Stevens offered an amendment to the bill which amendment was adopted. Generally, that amendment would accomplished three steps that would move Tennessee closer to REAL constitutional carry. First, it would have repealed the provision in TCA 39-17-1307(a) that makes it a crime to carry a firearm with the intent to go armed anywhere at any time in the state. Second, it would have eliminated the handgun only restriction on the rights of people to keep and bears “arms”. Third, it would have changed existing statutes in Tennessee to reflect a federal court proposed settlement that recognizes that existing statutory prohibits on 18-20 year olds to exercise their Second Amendment rights. The amendment was still contained a provision that is a problem in that it would create a statutory conflict with three existing statutes. That amendment was placed on the bill by a voice vote – but it was nothing.

The problem was that, based on our assessment, Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Sen. Jon Lundberg, Sen. Paul Rose and Sen. Brent Taylor would have voted against Sen. Stevens’ amendment. None of these Senators did, nor could they, articulate a constitutional basis for opposing the bill as amended by Stevens’ amendment.

Sen. Brent Taylor offered an amendment, which had the full support of the Department of Safety (a clear warning sign), the Taylor amendment gutted the bill and the effort to change Tennessee law to be more compliant with the Second Amendment and three United States Supreme Court decisions. The only thing that the Taylor amendment could be viewed as doing is to recognize that the State of Tennessee has been sued for federal civil rights violations regarding the restrictions on 18-20 year olds and that those restrictions violate the 2nd and 14th Amendments. The “four amigos” voted for the Taylor amendment and then all Republicans voted to move the bill forward.

Those in Tennessee who feel that elected members of the Legislature have a sworn duty to uphold the constitution should be furious with Sen. Todd Gardenhire, Sen. Jon Lundberg, Sen. Paul Rose and Sen. Brent Taylor. Constitutional advocates should be furious with Lt. Governor McNally’s apparent opposition to the rights protected by the Second Amendment. Constitutional advocates should be outraged that Bill Lee’s administration is sending taxpayer funded administration officials to “instruct” the Legislature that Bill Lee and his administration oppose the efforts of some Legislators to remove infringements on the rights protected from infringement by the Second Amendment.

It was painfully obvious watching the statements of Sen. London Lamar, Sen. Paul Rose, Sen. Brent Taylor, a representative from Moms Demand Action and the testimony of Elizabeth Stroecker, who as an attorney represents Governor Bill Lee and his Department of Safety, that they are perfectly comfortable engaging in official oppression as they repeatedly make assertions that are in conflict with the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s decisions, Lack of constitutional stewardship should lead to a lack of public employment.

This clear void of constitutional stewardship in the Tennessee Senate is why it is important for Tennessee conservatives to be demanding now that Tennessee's next Lt. Governor and, for that matter, its next Governor, have a strong core conviction about the constitutionally protected rights of citizens and that such individuals have a proven record of passing pro Second Amendment laws rather than sponsoring legislation which the Attorney General agrees was unconstitutional and a federal civil rights violation on its face.