In 2018, he was known as “candidate” Bill Lee. One of his campaign ads featured him sitting in church trying to give voters the assurance of what a good, trusting, truthful person he was.
But, it was more than that. Early in his campaign he clearly told voters that he did not believe in real constitutional carry as reflected in this Nashville Public Radio (now WPLN) report. Instead, he told us, as reflected in this screenshot from Nashville Public Radio’s website during the campaign that he wanted to keep the permit system and believed people should be required to have training and background checks.
Why?
Because, he said he was listening to “law enforcement and what they believe…” rather than reading the constitution and being concerned about what it required.
What was his only “2nd Amendment” objective should he become governor? At the time, it was reducing the fees for the permits.
But, if you search for other statements by candidate Bill Lee on 2nd Amendment issues, you might as well be looking for true Christian in Hell because there probably are not many that can be found now that he has been in office for 4 years. His old campaign site had been whitewashed early after he became governor (as the Tennessee Star reported in 2019) of his “contract for Tennessee” which he called at the time “Ten for Tennessee”.
However, the Tennessee Star did keep a copy of Bill Lee’s promises which it referenced in December 2018, weeks before Bill Lee took office as governor in January 2019, that his “contract for Tennessee” had not only disappeared from his website but that, in their analysis he had already breached even those 10 vague and ambiguous promises. This is the original list of promises by candidate Bill Lee, as reported by the Tennessee Star, in that report:
- Foster an Environment Where Jobs Continue to Grow
- Rethink Public Education with Major Vocational Reforms, Real School Choice, and Civics Education
- Stand up for Rural Tennessee by Expanding Economic Opportunity and Winning the War On Opioids
- Get Tough on the State Budget by Making Government Smaller and More Efficient
- Ensure New Voices in Nashville by Passing Term Limits and the Challenging the Influence Culture of Insiders
- Create a New Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
- Make Government More Accessible, Open, and Accountable to Taxpayers
- Protect and Defend a Culture of Life
- Defend Our Constitutional Liberties Without Compromise
- Enforce the Rule of Law on Immigration
Notice that not one of them talked about REAL Constitutional Carry, removing the infringements on the rights protected by the 2nd Amendment, eliminating gun free zones, reducing fees on permits, expanding reciprocity, allowing 18-20 year olds to obtain permits, allowing Tennesseans to carry longarms. None of that was referenced. The closest thing he said was he promised to “defend our constitutional liberties without compromise” — what does that even mean? In hindsight over the last 4 years, it meant nothing – it meant nothing at all.
So, Tennessee Firearms Association’s experience research analysts have done a more extensive search for Bill Lee’s promises as candidate Lee but we focused on 2nd Amendment issues. Thank goodness for Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other resources of information that Bill Lee and his protectors could not delete as they did his campaign website promises.
As part of its research, TFA believes that candidate Bill Lee made promises to Tennesseans, in addition to his “Ten for Tennessee” promise that briefly existed on his campaign website. It appears likely, at this point, that Governor Bill Lee has likely ignored or broken these promises as well.
What are they? Well, consider this paraphrased list that TFA has assembled so far:
1. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would support arming school teachers to help defend our schools
2. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would defend our constitutional rights under the 2nd Amendment
3. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would defend our constitutional rights under the Tennessee constitution relative to firearms (see, Article I, Section 26)
4. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would sign into law legislation restoring the right of self-defense by implementing “Constitutional Carry” in Tennessee
5. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would sign into law legislation restoring the right to bear arms on public property
6. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would sign into law legislation that prohibited the use of taxpayer funds to violate rights guaranteed by the constitution, including the 10th Amendment which indicted a law prohibiting taxpayer funds to be used to aid in the enforcement of federal laws, regulations and executive orders
7. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would sign into law legislation that would allow any permit holder to carry on college campuses
8. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would sign into law legislation that allowed teachers to possess firearms at work – in the schools
9. Bill Lee stated as a candidate that he would sign into law legislation that required students to be taught the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the state’s Constitution and that the students would be required to pass an exam on these issues to graduate.
Now, if in fact all of these promises were in fact made by Bill Lee as a candidate in 2018, it is overwhelmingly clear that he has breached most if not all of them. It is absolutely clear that he did not pass REAL constitutional carry.
Bill Lee may be the Republican candidate for governor in 2022 on the November ballot (assuming the current criminal investigations involving some legislators don’t also involve him). But just because he may be the Republican candidate and perhaps even favor to win in November that does not mean that Republicans have to vote for him. Not to say that they should vote for anyone else – they just don’t have to vote at all! Imagine, for example, if the November election results show that all the votes cast in state races for Republicans in the Legislature or Congress totaled say 1,000,000 votes but Lee only got 100,000. It would be a resounding and overwhelming showing to the Legislature that Tennessee Republicans don’t support Bill Lee – and maybe that is exactly what should happen. That is one option that sends a strong message.
But, then again, let’s not forget the continuing criminal investigation involving former Republican House member Robin Smith, and apparently Glen Casada, and now even rumors of an investigation concerning how alleged suggestions made to promote an individual to the position of general in an effort to gather votes to pass the Bill Lee “voucher” bill. What would happen in Tennessee if another governor was caught up in a criminal investigation? Well, like with scandal involving former governor Ray Blanton, it would be something Tennessee might rather not endure.
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