On November 17, 2024, Brent Taylor, a Tennessee Senator for Shelby County, issued an official comment on the lawsuit that was filed by Tennessee Firearms Association, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation and Ty Timmermann against the City of Memphis. In his letter, Senator Taylor, who is also a member of the Tennessee Senate…
Author Archives: JohnHarris
TFA and others sue the City of Memphis to enjoin enforcement of firearms ordinances
On November 13, 2024, the Tennessee Firearms Association filed a lawsuit (copy below) against the City of Memphis seeking to enjoin three recently enacted ordinances that violate Tennessee’s preemption statutes which reserve to the state the exclusive authority to regulate firearms issues. TFA was joined in the filing by Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners…
Memphis ignores state law with new referendum that also violates the Second Amendment
On Election Day 2024 (November 5), the voters in Memphis were asked to consider several local charter amendments that impact the rights which are protected by the Second Amendment. By an overwhelming majority, the results indicate that the voters in Memphis approved these clearly illegal proposals. The issue now will likely proceed to the courts.…
Your rights depend on you voting for true conservatives
Across the nation, November 5, 2024, is election day. The national news is focused on the race between Trump and Harris. But, your rights are in jeopardy from potentially bad choices and even voter apathy in many other local, state and national elections. Let’s start the issue of with true constitutional carry. While Trump is…
Does Bill Lee truly support the Second Amendment?
On February 27, 2020, Governor Bill Lee announced that “he” was proposing legislation to enact constitutional carry in Tennessee. He did introduce legislation. It was not constitutional carry (Tennessee does not have constitutional carry even today). There is no clear evidence midway through his second term that he has actually ever supported the true effect…
Greenway assaults and Tennessee’s lack of Real Constitutional Carry
On an October Monday in 2024, 34-year-old Alyssa Lokits was using a greenway in Antioch, Tennessee when she was shot and killed. One witness reports that he heard a woman crying out for help as he told his story to a new station he stated that “she said, ‘Help, I’m being raped, I’m being raped,’…
Can you really trust the advice from a Tennessee legislator on the use of deadly force?
Since Helene devastated parts of Tennessee and the southeast, individuals, families and businesses have had to deal with robbers, thieves and looters. These storm victims need and want to know what level of force they can use to protect not only their lives but their homes, lands, businesses, inventory, and personal property. Many think that…
Tennessee’s “Castle Doctrine” does not protect your castle.
Does Tennessee have a “castle doctrine”? Yes, to some extent, and no in other contexts. The travesty of Hurricane Helene and the massive and widespread destruction that it caused has again raised the question of when can an individual to use deadly force to protect their home and property in Tennessee? Specifically, can you used…
Supreme Court to hear oral argument on October 8, 2024, on ATF’s appeal of the “frame and receiver” decision
On October 8, 2024, the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the ATF’s appeal of the Fifth Circuit’s ruling invalidating the agency’s “frame and receiver” rule which sought to ban the manufacture and distribution of unfinished lower receivers so that individuals could build their own firearms. The case is Merrick…
Tennessee law prohibits property owners from protecting themselves against looters
Hurricane Helene struck with devastation that is unprecedented in recent memory when it hit ground at the end of September 2024. It devastated substantial parts of East Tennessee and other states with flooding, death tolls are rising, roads and infrastructure are unusable perhaps for weeks or months. Now, there are news reports that the residents…