The special session convened in Nashville by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) ended without a single new gun control measure adopted by the state legislature. It did, however, exit the stage with some controversy and a viral video.
It began on Aug. 21 with much fanfare. Anti-Second Amendment activists flocked to the scene with signs and chants proclaiming their goal of ripping away gun rights. Along with sympathetic media allies, they attempted to apply pressure to legislators to establish a so-called “red flag” law for Tennessee.
But the session closed on Aug. 29 with that dream unfulfilled.
Only three bills were passed by the House and Senate. One of the measures established a tax break for gun owners who purchase a safe to store their weapons. Another addressed human trafficking in the state.
The third bill addressed a pre-existing gun law. According to the Tennessee Firearms Association, the measure slashed the amount of time required for courts and court clerks to report key information on individuals to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
This information is used for criminal background check databases.
The impetus for the special session was the horrific mass shooting at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian institution in Nashville, on March 27. Six victims, including three children, were killed by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
Officials faced pressure to do “something” in response to the tragedy. However, if red flag laws had been in existence before the shooting, they would not have prevented the massacre. Hale’s parents with whom she lived did not know that she had guns at the time. They had previously urged her to sell a gun and believed that she had.
She reportedly kept newly purchased firearms hidden from her parents.
Without knowing that she possessed weapons, there would have been no reason for them to call the authorities and request red flag confiscation. Hale ultimately killed six before being shot to death by two responding police officers.
The special session ended abruptly and with controversy. After it was called to a close, 52-year-old House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) and 28-year-old Rep. Justin Pearson (D) apparently got into a physical altercation as they exited the floor.
Both accused the other of initiating the confrontation. Video from the media showed Sexton leaving as Pearson approached him holding a sign calling for gun control.
Contact between the two came when Sexton moved to avoid a photographer. This initiated a brief altercation and a vocal outburst from surrounding lawmakers and gallery protesters.
A House subcommittee adopted rules earlier in August banning signs from being displayed in committees, but that did little to prevent them from the special session. Some lawmakers, including Pearson, even brought their own in defiance of the rule.
The session, as many predicted, descended into infighting and personal attacks as it became clear that there would not be a groundswell of new gun control measures passed. Tennessee is an overwhelmingly Second Amendment-friendly state, and the chances of lawmakers caving into pressure from gun control zealots were nil.
Even Gov. Lee, who called the ill-fated session, steered clear of the gathering.
He barely referenced it in the days prior to convening and was quite conspicuous in his absence as lawmakers scuffled — sometimes literally.
Every gun rights advocate wants to keep firearms out of the hands of those who would harm themselves or others. The bills that are commonly proposed and the ones already in effect, however, generally offer scant protection for due process rights.
In other words, a lawful gun owner may be targeted for confiscation without evidence being presented and without being able to defend themselves.
This is an injustice that must be addressed for these statutes to gain widespread support.
