On June 11, 2024, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued a preliminary injunction against the ATF’s enforcement of its “engaged in business” rule. The preliminary injunction protects individuals in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, as well as the members of Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Tennessee…
Covenant School shooting records leaked?
On March 27, 2023, a multi-victim shooting took place in Nashville, Tennessee at the Covenant Church / Covenant School which involved the murder of six individuals. On May 1, 2023, Tennessee Firearms Association and Sheriff (retired) James Hammond filed, with the assistance of Judicial Watch, an open records request with the Metropolitan Police Department to…
Tennessee Legislature’s 2024 failures on Second Amendment bills
The Tennessee Legislature had over 200 bills in the 2023-2024 session that Tennessee Firearms Tracked. Recently, TFA reported on the bills that were enacted in 2024. This report is to examine some of the bills that were filed in 2024 that were strong Second Amendment bills but which the Tennessee Legislature completely failed to pass.…
2024 Legislative Review
The 2023-2024 Legislative session has concluded and the facts could not be any clearly. The 113th General Assembly, which operated under a Republican super majority in both houses with Lt. Governor Randy McNally in charge of the Senate and Speaker Cameron Sexton in charge of the House, failed to pass any significant legislation that would…
Arkansas Federal Court refuses to issue preliminary injunction against ATF “engaged in business rule”
On May 1, 2024, more than 20 states including the state of Tennessee sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in federal court in Arkansas in which they claimed that the ATF’s new “engaged in business” rule was void. The lead plaintiff in the litigation was the state of Kansas. The states sought…
TFA’s 2024 State Legislature Candidate Survey
TFA’s 2024 survey of candidates for the State Legislature is below. We often get the question of whether TFA endorses candidates and if so who. As an IRS recognized 501c4, the Tennessee Firearms Association is not allowed to and does not support or endorse a candidate for elected office. TFA does not “score” candidates although…
Federal Court issues Temporary Restraining Order against ATF from enforcing “engaged in business rule”
On May 1, 2024, Tennessee Firearms Association, on behalf of its members, filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas as a co-plaintiff with the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Utah, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, the Virginia Citizens Defense League and Jeffrey Tormey. On May 19, 2024, Judge Matthew J.…
Constitutional concept of “arms” under the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment was intended to and its primary purpose is to prohibit the government from infringing or limiting access by civilians to arms that are suitable, necessary and/or appropriate to military engagement. That purpose is made clear by the Amendment’s preamble which declares that the security of a free state is dependent upon a…
Tennessee Court of Appeals holds that TWRA unconstitutionally trespassed on private property
In a decision released on May 9, 2024, in the matter of Terry Rainwaters, et al. v. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, et al., No: W2022-00514-COA-R3-CV, the Tennessee Court of Appeals held that a Tennessee statute (enacted by the Tennessee Legislature) on which the TWRA relied for its warrantless searches is unconstitutional as applied. That decision…
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joins 21 other states to sue ATF over “engaged in business” rule
On May 2, 2024, the office of the Tennessee Attorney General announced that Tennessee and 21 other states had filed a federal civil action against the ATF seeking to block the ATF’s new rule which massively redefines “engaged in the business” in such a way as to potentially require hundreds of thousands of individuals and…