Governor Bill Lee has made it clear he is demanding a Red Flag law in Tennessee to take guns away from individuals that the “state” identifies as so dangerous that their constitutional rights must be infringed — while leaving that dangerous person at large in the community to do harm in other creative ways.
Many Republican legislators have assured their constituents that they will not support the Governor’s Red Flag gun control agenda. But, can we rest assured that there will be not other gun control efforts made in the Special Session or in 2023?
We have had reports from many TFA members over the last 3 months that various Republican legislators – actual several specific ones – are saying to the constituents that they don’t support a Red Flag law but that they think “something must be done”. Does that mean that while they do not want to be “branded” as supporting Red Flag laws, they are supporting other kinds of gun control? With several of these Republican legislators – that would not be a surprise at all.
For example, Jeremy Faison, the House Republican Caucus Chairman, made clear as early as April 2023, that he was working on a bill with Democrat Caleb Hemmer to make it a crime for someone to leave a firearm in a vehicle unless it was stored in a gun safe or similar compartment that was affixed to the vehicle. That bill would have made it a crime for someone who had to disarm to go into a posted property but did not have a lockable container in the car (e.g., a borrowed vehicle or a rental vehicle). So, under this Republican supported concept, the victim of a vehicle break-in could be charged with a crime because they did not make it hard enough for the criminal to victimize them! Other House Republicans who were sponsors on that bill in April included Mark White, Sam Whitson and John Gillespie.
There are numerous risks with a gun control proposal such as what these House Republicans are apparently favoring such as:
- It creates a slippery slope to increase the criminal penalties against gun owners if the initial penalty or consequences don’t stop the perceived problem, which is something some Republicans routinely propose by, for example, increasing crimes from misdemeanors to felonies.
- It creates a slippery slope to expand the mandate to perhaps require gun safes and state approved “secured storage” in homes, apartments, campers, houseboats, etc.
- There is no evidence that this kind of proposal stops the thefts or, of more relevance, stops violent crimes period.
- It further victimizes the victim of the theft.
So, while some Republican legislators are and have long histories of standing firm against gun control or laws in Tennessee that would diminish your rights, others have a history and a pattern of supporting what they deem to be “reasonable” or “public safety” gun control even if the United States Supreme Court has now said that such justifications are unconstitutional unless a similar category of law existed as part of the nation’s historical tradition in 1791.
The point is, we must be prepared for any form of inventive shenanigans from Republicans who are, like Bill Lee, Jeremy Faison, Mark White, Sam Whitson and John Gillespie will to impair your rights in the name of perceived public safety. They are will to cross the “aisle” and work with gun control advocates like Justin Jones to achieve their shared goals.
It is critical that we aggressively push back not just on Bill Lee’s Red Flag law proposals but on any gun control proposals. It is necessary that we identify each and every legislator that indicates support at any level for gun control and be prepared to expose them to their constituents and encourage primary challenges to replace them with people who will honor their oath and abide by the Constitution. #RedFlagDown necessarily means more than stopping just a Red Flag law.
TFALAC and TFA have already dedicated approximately $100,000 to a public media blitz to fight the Red Flag proposal but we have to also fight any gun control. While $100,000 if a significant amount, if you can contribute to TFALAC (the state PAC) to help increase that allocation – as many already have done – do it now while the fight can still be fought with financial resources.
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