Tennessee Firearms Association will perform a legislative session review on the bills that were tracked this year in the next few weeks once the time has expired for Bill Haslam to sign or veto the legislation that we have seen the Legislature pass the last few weeks. However, TFA is cautioning Tennessee’s firearms owners, conservatives and constitutionalists that it is likely not going to be a good report.
Eight years ago the Republican party gained and has held a super majority in the Tennessee Legislature. Bill Haslam, who identifies as a Republican, has been governor. Indeed, the Republican party has claimed a super majority in the Legislature and in state government for the entire last 8 years.
The Republicans have claimed repeatedly and consistently that they are as a party and individually strong 2nd Amendment supporters and loyal to the constitution. They have campaigned on these issues. Even the current governor’s candidates and candidates for the legislature are and are expected to continue to claim strong 2nd Amendment “bona fides”.
Speaker Beth Harwell went so far as apparently to buy or borrow what appears to be new camo to post a picture of herself as she tried to identify a “hunter” … presumably with a firearm.
Over the last two years, TFA has worked on or tracked approximately 120 bills in the Legislature. TFA has repeatedly warned that all of the priority bills, although sponsored almost entirely by conservative Republican legislators, have been derailed by the Establishment GOP leaders including Speaker Harwell, her loyal minions, the Lt. Governor and the administration of Bill Haslam. Bills to adopt constitutional carry (at least 13 states already have this), to adopt permitless open carry (approximately 30 states already have this), to reduce or eliminate gun free zones, to reduce fees and costs, to clarify and simplify the statutes, to prohibit local governments from imposing gun restrictions which have no material crime prevention purpose, and, in general, laws to remove infringements on our constitutionally protected rights have all been rejected by the Republican super majority.
Many refuse to believe or recognize that for the last 8 years the threat to the 2nd Amendment has been the very Establishment Republicans who are in control of state government.
Well, consider that the gun control advocates which appear to be funded with massive progressive backers from out of state have been raising funds and working hard to make friends with these very same Establishment Republicans. Why? Well, in part because they hold perhaps the same or similar opinions of the 2nd Amendment deep down.
There is an entity operating now in Tennessee under the misleading and apparently benevolent name of “Moms Demand Action.” That entity is a national group – not a true grassroots group. It is related to “Everytown for Gun Safety.” According to Wikipedia, both organizations are founded and funded primarily by Michael Bloomberg. Wikipedia identifies “Moms Demand Action” as a subsidiary of Everytown – as does the entity’s own website.
So, not only was Bill Haslam a member of Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Guns, we now see that Bloomberg’s well funded minions and operatives have been flourishing in the Tennessee legislature during his administration.
Linda McFadyen-Ketchum, apparently a Bloomberg operative, speaks for the Tennessee chapter of Moms Demand Action. She says the group believes 2018 is a turning point in the gun debate.
“We are seeing a sea change, and I believe our legislators are too. I think that is part of the reason that these bills did not go anywhere.”
That declaration should scare every conservative and gun owner in the state. What it says is not only is Bloomberg’s gun control agenda flourishing but Tennessee’s so-called Republican legislators are increasingly viewing them and their gun control message as credible.
The threat to your rights, and potentially your life, is the combination of Michael Bloomberg’s agenda, his money, his friend Bill Haslam, and the Establishment Republicans who either never stood for the 2nd Amendment, who don’t know what it means or who are so swayed by political correctness that they simply chose to listen to Haslam and the “red-shirted moms” demands for gun control.
The damage and the knowing failures of the super majority of Republicans in the 110th Legislature has been done. That chapter is closing.
The 2018 election cycle brings the chance to change Tennessee’s path back toward constitutional compliance and public stewardship for the next 8 years – or potentially for that path to be further diverted.
It is critical that conservatives take this seriously and take action to put a stop to the shenanigans, antics, and damage done by Establishment Republicans and their friend Michael Bloomberg.
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