Two of the three permitless carry bills were scheduled for hearing on March 10, 2021, in the House Criminal Justice Committee. Both House Bill 786, which is commonly referred to as the “Governor’s bill” and House Bill 18 by Representative Bruce Griffey were taken up in this committee. After extension discussion and only a voice vote, both of the bills received enough votes to move forward and are now being assigned to the House Finance Committee due to questionable multi-million dollar fiscal notes (projections of cost for state budget purposes).
Of the two bills, House Bill 18 is the cleaner and closest to what might be called “constitutional carry”. If enacted, it would allow anyone who can legally possess a firearm to carry that firearm. It also addresses the significant problems of numerous statutory gun free zones which presently only have exceptions for handgun permit holders.
In contrast, the Governor’s bill, which was referred to in the Senate Judiciary hearings by the Committee Chairman as a bill that “… is not everything that everyone wanted, but it gets the ball further down the field”. Another Senator referred to it as only an incremental step but not as true constitutional carry. The Governor’s bill only applies to those who are either at least 21 years old or to certain individuals who are 18-20 and in or retired from the military, it only applies to handguns, it has a curious qualifier that the person must be in a place where they have a right to be and it does not deal with gun free zones to the extent that HB18 does.
In responding to a question on the Governor’s bill, HB786, Rep. William Lamberth was being asked (see Committee testimony at approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes) whether the bill covered all firearms or just handguns. He responded: “I will say there is not a distinction in the Second Amendment, there is a distinction in this particular bill. And, this is the biggest bite of freedom we can get in one chunk“.
Just as with the comments by those Senators setting on the Senate Judiciary who made similar comments about the same bill when it was heard there on March 2, these comments raise a very troubling question which as yet has been unanswered by any of the sponsors or legislators. That question is — why with a Republican super majority and a Republican governor do these legislators, and apparently many of them, believe that REAL constitutional carry cannot be obtained this year?” Who is stonewalling and blocking this legislation so that it is only an incremental step? Who is blocking it from being truly Second Amendment compliant? Who holds that degree of unilateral power that elected legislators acknowledge that the bill falls short but state in apparent despair that it is the “biggest bite” that can be had at this time?
Is the problem Bill Lee? If it is a simple veto override fixes that just like it did when Governor Bredesen vetoed several gun bills in 2009 and 2010.
Is the problem Lt. Governor Randy McNally? Perhaps – but he represents as a Senator the same quantity of citizens that each of the 32 other Senators represent. Why would he hold such power?
Is the problem perhaps coming from the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association, the Tennessee Chiefs of Police Association, TBI or the Department of Safety? None of those entities or state agencies were elected by the voters of Tennessee to make public policy.
We look forward to having someone who knows disclose who it is that is stonewalling and blocking Real Constitutional Carry so that that person, persons or organizations can be held accountable to Tennessean’s whose constitutionally protected rights remain infringed under the Governor’s bill.
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