On February 16, 2023, a lawsuit was filed by Stephen L. Hughes, Duncan O’Mara, Elaine Kehel, Gun Owners of America, Inc., and Gun Owners Foundation against Bill Lee, in his official capacity as the governor of the state of Tennessee and also against Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti in his official capacity. See, Stephen L. Hughes, et al., v. Bill Lee, Chancery Court for the 28th Judicial District, Gibson County, No: 24475. (A copy of the amended complaint is included below).
In this litigation, the plaintiffs seek a determination by a state court that Tennessee’s “parks statute” (Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-17-1311) and Tennessee’s state-wide “gun free zone statute” (Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-17-1307) are unconstitutional under the Tennessee Constitution.
In addition to the complaint, plaintiffs filed motion asking the trial court to issue a preliminary injunction which would by court order prohibit state and local officials from enforcing the “parks statute.” In the preliminary injunction motion, the Plaintiffs ask the court to enter a preliminary and permanent injunction against the State of Tennessee that would prohibit it from enforcing either the parks statute or the state’s general state-wide gun free zone statute. The lawsuit is based on similar lawsuits that have been filed in other state and federal courts following the United States Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
The Governor and the Attorney General are both represented in the litigation by the Attorney General’s office. One of the first claims raised was that neither Bill Lee nor the Attorney General in their official capacities were “proper parties” to the litigation. As a result, an amended complaint was filed which added additional parties such as Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas. Sheriff Thomas has now filed a stipulation (see below) in the case in which agrees that he is not disputing the Plaintiffs’ claims or lawsuit and that he will abide by whatever ruling the Court renders.
But Bill Lee and Attorney General Skrmetti have taken a different path. They are disputing the lawsuit and claiming that the state’s statutory scheme which makes it a crime to carry a firearm, or even a handgun, in a park is constitutional. They claim, apparently, that a statutory scheme such as that in Tennessee which makes it a crime for anyone to carry a firearm anywhere at anytime “with the intent to go armed” is constitutional. Indeed, they apparently continue to support the statutory scheme that places the burden on the citizen to prove to a jury or at a criminal trial that the individual has a statutory affirmative defense to the criminal charge such as, for example, the individual had a “handgun permit”.
At this point, the public record is clear. Governor Bill Lee apparently believes that it is constitutionally permissible to make it a crime for anyone to carry a firearm anywhere at any time for the purpose of “going armed” is a crime and that the government should have the power to stop, detain, question, arrest or charge you – even if you have a handgun permit. That is not constitutional carry. That is not even the exercise of a right.
But wait, read Governor Lee’s recently filed answer for yourself. There are so many assertions of “lacking knowledge” that it is not clear that Governor Lee even knows what Tennessee law is or what the United States Supreme Court has held in its three landmark decisions in Heller, McDonald and Bruen.
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