For more than a decade, Tennessee Republicans have held effective control over state government. Since 2011, the governor’s office has been occupied solely by Republicans – first Bill Haslam and now Bill Lee – while commanding supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly under the leadership of Lt. Governor Randy McNally, Speaker Cameron Sexton,…
Author Archives: John Harris
Amendment to Rep. Chris Todd’s “Firearms Legislation Continues to Raise Constitutional Concerns
Rep. Chris Todd is the House Sponsor of House Bill 2064 which seeks to making several changes to Tennessee’s criminal statutes that regulate firearms possession or use. This House bill was entirely amended on March 11, 2026, (the proposed amendment was not published under the bill’s history on the state website). The amended bill passed…
Is House Bill 2064 (Senate Bill 2467) a genuine proposal to repeal “intent to go armed” or something else?
In August 2025, a specially convened Tennessee three-judge trial court unanimously ruled that two of Tennessee’s gun control statutes – Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307(a) (the “Going Armed Statute”) and Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1311(a) (the “Parks Statute”) – violated the Tennessee Constitution as well as the Second Amendment. Of course, Tennessee Firearms Association supporters have…
Plaintiffs file appellate brief opposing State’s efforts to overturn trial court ruling in Hughes et al v. Lee et al.
On March 6, 2026, Plaintiffs Stephen Hughes, Duncan O’Mara, Elaine Kehel, Gun Owners of America, Inc., and Gun Owners Foundation filed their joint Appellees’ brief in response to the appeal by the State of Tennessee from a unanimous three-judge trial court panel’s ruling in August 2025 that two of Tennessee’s gun control statutes violated the…
Sovereign Immunity – a misplaced and irrelevant argument in defense of SB1958/HB1971
Recently, a Republican member of the Tennessee House has asserted that SB1958/HB1971 is necessary to reverse an unintended consequence of Tennessee Code Annotated § 1-3-121. That alleged unintended consequence — the waiver of sovereign immunity. However, that statute did not waive sovereign immunity for at least two reasons. First, the doctrine of sovereign immunity is…
As if the threat of SB1958/HB1971 was not enough, House Judiciary to also hear SB1731/HB1791 on March 4 — Why This Matters to Every Tennessean
Members of the Tennessee Firearms Association and conservative advocates should understand that there are actually two separate pieces of legislation — SB1731/HB1791 and SB1958/HB1971 — that are moving in tandem, and both are scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on March 4. Viewed together, these bills would significantly alter the practical ability…
Legislators Cannot Repeal The Constitution by Repealing The Capacity to Bring Constitutional Challenges
An urgent alert to grassroots Tennesseans regarding SB1958/HB1971 and the attack on constitutional review Bottom Line Tennessee legislators—almost entirely members who identify as Republicans—are rushing to pass SB1958/HB1971. If enacted, the bill would repeal an existing statute (Tenn. Code Ann. § 1-3-121) that expressly provides that any affected party may bring a civil action to…
Principle, Platform and Party Autonomy – Are the State Parties Enforcing Their Platforms?
Why SB1958 / HB1971 Demand Clarity from Republican and Democrat Party Leadership Political parties are not departments of the State. They are voluntary associations which claim that they are formed around shared principles. They are protected by the First Amendment’s guarantees of speech and association. That constitutional protection is not symbolic. It is substantive. It…
BREAKING — House Judiciary accelerates hearing on HB1971 (SB1958) to March 4, 2026
Tennesseans must treat HB1971 by Rep. Andrew Farmer (SB 1958 by Sen. John Stevens) as a serious constitutional threat. This proposal would repeal an existing law that expressly allows citizens to challenge the constitutionality of state statutes BEFORE they are arrested, convicted or otherwise harmed by the state law. This is not a mere technical procedural revision as…
SB1958 / HB1971 — A Nefarious Attempt to Place Legislative Power Beyond Constitutional Accountability
Every generation of Tennesseans, indeed every generation of Americans, inherits the same fragile system of government: a constitutional republic built on limited governmental authority, divided powers, enforceable rights, and the rule of law. That system does not sustain itself automatically. It survives only so long as each branch of government and each individual government official…