In the wake of The Covenant School shooting, a far-left reverend from Seattle has been working in Nashville to teach students how to protest.
“Reverend Osagyefo Sekou came to Nashville to work with the Dores Worker Solidarity Network [DWSN] on April 13,” according to Vanderbilt University’s website.
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More than two months after 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale shot and killed three children and three staff members at the Covenant Presbyterian School, Nashville’s Metropolitan Council is planning to hold hearings on gun violence as a “public health issue.”
The Public Health and Safety Committee will conduct the first special meeting on gun safety, co-hosted with Education Committee Chair Zulfat Suara, on June 14, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 pm.
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According to State Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), also a candidate for mayor of Nashville, Gov. Bill Lee (R) met with Campbell before he announced his August special session of the General Assembly, which will focus on gun control.
“I met with the Governor prior to his announcement of the special session but have not heard from him about this bill package,” Campbell told The Tennessee Star Friday. “My office would welcome the opportunity.”
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After The Tennessee Star last week reported that far-left agitators plan to disable U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) vehicles while violently rioting during August’s special session of the legislature, The Star reached out to ICE to see if the law enforcement entity had any plans to quell the potential rioters.
After multiple comment requests and a promise to provide a statement, the agency did not respond to The Star’s inquiry.
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Gov. Bill Lee (R) has earned high praise from Democrats in the state after announcing his August special session that will be dedicated to gun control.
According to NBC, the governor has some new allies, including Democrat elected officials and members of anti-Second Amendment groups.
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A former Nashville Public Radio reporter spoke at a far-left activist planning session as left-wing agitators plan to disrupt August’s special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The Tennessee Star received secret audio recordings of the meeting, and has reported extensively on the contents of those recordings.
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In secretly recorded audio files from a Saturday planning session among far-leftists in Nashville obtained by The Tennessee Star, left-wing agitators say they plan to “bird dog” Republican lawmakers during August’s special session of the General Assembly.
Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood held a training session for activists in Nashville, which was run by Julie Edwards, the organization’s advocacy & organizing manager, along with the organization’s Executive Director Francie Hunt.
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In secret audio obtained by The Tennessee Star, radical leftists who plan to “protest” the upcoming August special session of the General Assembly say they have armed security at the ready.
“Also, like there are groups in Nashville who do this – keep in mind – who like, if at any point you need armed security at a protest, there are people who we trust as a community to show up and do that,” said an organizer of the Saturday meeting.
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Gov. Bill Lee’s office did not respond to The Tennessee Star’s Monday inquiries seeking clarification on whether Lee met with Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and a group of students to discuss gun control last week.
Friday, the far-left Tennessee Holler posted a video to Twitter claiming that he was marching to Lee’s office with students to stress the urgency of implementing gun control measures during the upcoming August special legislative session.
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Ahead of August’s special session wherein Gov. Bill Lee (R) is expect to push for “Order of Protection” (red flag) laws, the governor has signed into law a bill that provides financial resources for school security measures.
Namely, HB 0322 allocates $30 million for the state to hire homeland security agents in each county to serve both public and private schools. The new law also provides $140 million for one full-time, armed School Resource Officer (SRO) for every public school in the state.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, guest host Aaron Gulbransen welcomed Mayor Glenn Jacobs of Knox County to the newsmaker line to give his stance on the Second Amendment and the out of control federal spending.
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The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee this week jettisoned 545 of liberal Governor Tony Evers’ budget proposals, packed with higher taxes on businesses and individuals and growing government initiatives.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business advocate, is applauding the Republican-controlled budget-writing committee for trimming Evers’ bigger government budget plan.
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Governor Bill Lee said Saturday that the special session he called for on April 21 in the wake of the Covenant Presbyterian School shooting to push through a package of gun control measures dubbed “red flag laws” will likely convene after the July 4th holiday.
“There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons,” he said in his original April statement.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Aaron Gulbransen in studio for another edition of Aaron’s Analysis.
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by John Harris Governor Bill Lee called on the Tennessee Legislature to pass a “Red Flag” law on April 11, 2023 just shortly after three Tennessee Democrat House members made a similar call on the House floor and led a disruptive gun control rally with a bullhorn directly from the front podium on the House floor. The Democrat House members’ gun control rally brought national attention, unfavorable attention, to Tennessee and the Tennessee House of Representatives. Governor Lee has willfully joined the Democrats in an open call for gun control. He has intentionally called for a “Red Flag” law although he referred to it as a “temporary mental health order of protection” because perhaps, as Senator Jack Johnson is recently recorded as stating, “Red Flag” laws have to be “rebranded” in order to pass (or did Sen. Johnson mean to say ‘in order to mislead the voters’?). Following Governor Lee’s call for a Red Flag law, Democrat House Member Justin Jones (who is one of those who was expelled from the House for his disruption of House proceedings and then almost immediately reinstated) has been making national news by continuing to call for gun control at the same time that Governor Lee is doing…
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The Minnesota House passed an omnibus judiciary and public safety bill Wednesday that contains two controversial gun-control measures.
The Senate version of the omnibus bill, which passed earlier this month, doesn’t include the gun-control proposals and the differences between the two bills will have to be sorted out in a conference committee in the coming days, Session Daily reported.
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On April 20, 2023, Tennessee Firearms Association received a “leaked” draft of a Red Flag law which information indicates is likely being offered by Tennessee Democrats since it seeks to amend House Bill 1233 Senate Bill 1029 which has Democrat sponsors in the House and Senate. Of particular concern, however, is that House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby). Since a high ranking House Republican leader is a sponsor on the bill, it must be considered whether this is a second attempt by Governor Bill Lee to get a Red Flag law to the floor.
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Two notable recording artists have joined a chorus of calls for the state of Tennessee to implement stricter gun control measures.
“We’re Nashvillians. We’re also moms,” Sheryl Crow told News Channel 5. “And I think what happened at Covenant has touched everyone, including Gov. Lee on a very deep and personal level. We just want to see something that we can all agree on.”
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Tennessee Democrat State Representatives Justin Jones (D-Nashville), Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), and Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) will visit the White House on Monday, the Biden administration announced this week.
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In yet another protest in favor of gun control, recently embattled State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) attempted to bring a child-sized casket into the Tennessee House Chamber, before he was forced to drop the prop.
“The rally made it inside the Capitol going through security,” News Channel 5’s Kelsey Gibbs reported. “Rep. Justin Jones and Bishop Barber are trying to enter the chamber with a casket. The sergeant of arms went to check and tells them they can’t bring the casket inside the House chamber.”
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The Southern Baptist Convention is now using its massive sway to call for gun control in Tennessee.
Brent Leatherwood, the Southern Baptist Convention’s president of the church’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), demanded gun control in a letter published by The Tennesseean.
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Two Wisconsin lawmakers, looking to stop school shooters before they have a chance to take more innocent lives, have introduced a bill that would allow teachers and staff members to carry firearms on school grounds.
State Representatives Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) and Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) recently introduced a bill that would create an exception to the state’s prohibition on guns at schools.
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A flower shop in Nashville is publicly bashing the Republican National Committee (RNC) after the RNC asked it to provide floral arrangements for an upcoming event.
In an Instagram post, FLWR Shop in Nashville explained that it would not to business with the RNC due to the RNC’s pro-Second Amendment stance.
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Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said he would shut down a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that is “beyond repair” and expand Second Amendment rights if he is elected president.
The political outsider vying for the Republican Party’s nomination laid out his gun rights agenda in a speech Friday to the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis.
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Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) are looking to cash in on their expulsion battles — and their friends on the far-left are, too.
Jones and Pearson, who were expelled last week from the Republican-led House of Representatives, are back in their seats after each was reinstated this week — Jones on Monday, Pearson on Wednesday. They were removed from their positions after being accused of inciting a riot on the House floor amid a chaotic protest demanding gun control laws. State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), who helped lead the protest, survived expulsion by one vote.
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In an effort to whip up more support from legislators in his own party — and perhaps a vote or two from across the political aisle — Attorney General Keith Ellison held a press conference Tuesday imploring bipartisan support for two controversial gun restriction bills with just six weeks left in the session.
While a number of gun control bills have been introduced at the Capitol in 2023, Democrats have narrowed their focus in the last few weeks on two: universal background checks and Extreme Risk Prevention Order (ERPO) legislation.
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Make no mistake, the “mostly peaceful” riots at the Tennessee Capitol last week under the guise of “gun safety” activism were all about power — organized and led by some well-heeled Generation Z groups with a pipeline to the Democrat-controlled White House.
Gun control extremists March For Our Lives and Gen-Z For Change hit social media to again recruit their young soldiers following the March 27 mass murders of three children and three adult staff members at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville. Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a deranged 28-year-old who reportedly identified as a transgender male, stormed into the private school and mercilessly shot and killed her victims before police officers fatally shot Hale.
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More Pennsylvania voters want former President Donald Trump or Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for President than President Joe Biden, despite the fact he has the affectionate nickname “Scranton Joe” after his birth town in the state, according to a new poll.
The Commonwealth Foundation, a group promoting free markets in Pennsylvania, found in a survey last week that 34 percent of registered voters in the state want Trump to run for President in 2024, followed by 26 percent who want DeSantis to run. Biden, however, earned 24 percent in the poll that allowed respondents to select all candidates that they want to see run. Close behind Biden is Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at 20 percent. Out of the four top potential candidates, only Trump has formally declared his presidential campaign for 2024.
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Connecticut lawmakers are advancing Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to close “loopholes” in the state’s gun control laws in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide.
The legislation, which is teed up for a vote in the state Legislature, would tighten the state’s ban on “ghost” guns, increase the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21, prohibit open carry in public, ban the bulk purchase of handguns and expand the state’s restriction on large-capacity firearm magazines, among other changes.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Tennessee Star reporter TC Weber in studio to comment on the lack of students with different viewpoints on gun control in Metro Nashville Public Schools protest discussions.
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The Tennessee House of Representatives moved to expel three Democrats who led a protest on the House floor last week, disrupting House proceedings.
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A federal judge ruled Friday that Minnesota’s policy of denying permits to carry to 18 to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional.
The case began with a June 2021 lawsuit filed by three gun-rights groups, including the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, on behalf of three adults under the age of 21.
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Monday marked another day of anti-gun protests in Nashville, as hundreds of Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) students walked out of school and marched to the Tennessee State Capitol demanding gun control.
“HUNDREDS of students, activists, and community members in Nashville walked out of school this morning with us and are walking to the state Capital to DEMAND action against gun violence,” said the anti-gun group March For Our Lives on Twitter, attaching a video of some of the student protestors.
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Metro Nashville Public Schools and March For Our Lives (MFOL), the anti-gun, New York City-based political action advocacy organization, are politicizing the March 27 Covenant Presbyterian School shootings by encouraging Nashville and Middle Tennessee high school students to participate in two separate anti-gun rallies on Monday.
As The Tennessee Star reported on March 27, three children and three adults were killed by 28-year-old former student Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as transgender, when she forced her way into the school.
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Following practically every mass public shooting, the gun control advocates call for “reasonable” responses to “gun violence”. One of the present favorite alleged solutions of the those who seek to ban guns in society is the incrementalism that includes the opportunity to leverage a tragedy by calling for “Red Flag” laws.
A “Red Flag” law is nothing more than a gun confiscation order. That is its failure as a solution to violence. But, that is the very reason why gun abolitionists proffer it at every opportunity.
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Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) did not return a Friday comment request from The Tennessee Star seeking further clarifications about students and parents who were reportedly involved in Thursday’s protest-turned-riot at the Tennessee Capitol building.
WTVF reported Thursday that thousands of parents and students gathered at the Capitol to protest in favor of gun control.
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The office of Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk said no state or local criminal investigations are pending stemming from Thursday’s riot at the Tennessee State Capitol.
“I just checked with the folks here,” said Steve Hayslip, a Nashville District Attorney General’s spokesman. “No state or local law enforcement agency has brought any criminal complaint to this office for review.”
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Will a publicity push this week from Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and former congresswoman turned gun control activist Gabby Giffords be enough to ensure that all 34 Democrats in the Minnesota Senate vote to pass a pair of high-profile and politically polarizing gun restriction bills on the floor this session?
Walz expressed optimism at a press conference Thursday that SF1116 and SF1117 will get the votes required from his DFL colleagues in the Senate that would then almost assuredly send both bills to his desk for signatures.
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A riot at the Tennessee State Capitol was stopped by state troopers Thursday as State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and at least two other far-left Democrat state representatives encouraged a crowd of more than a thousand protesters to breach the Tennessee House of Representatives chamber floor during a gun control demonstration.
Tennessee State Troopers foiled the breach, as protesters attempted to enter the chamber from the gallery above and the ground floor.
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A Pennsylvania state senator this week announced she is reintroducing legislation to force gun buyers to undergo three-day waiting periods before they take possession of their firearms.
Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown) wrote in a memorandum describing her bill that she believes the measure could reduce both violent crime and suicides. She stated that more than 60 percent of gun deaths are intentionally self-inflicted and said research has shown that many suicide survivors thought about taking the actions they did for less than a 24-hour period.
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A new federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) rule on pistols with stabllizing braces faces a Second Amendment lawsuit filed on behalf of disabled veterans.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed the complaint Tuesday in the U.S. Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division.
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Coinciding with an uptick in gang violence in the state and mass shootings nationwide, state lawmakers are likely to consider gun legislation during this year’s General Assembly session.
Last year, Kemp signed Senate Bill 319, a “constitutional carry” measure allowing Georgians to carry guns without needing a state-issued license. State Democrats derided the move, saying it would lead to more shootings in the state.
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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont wants to tighten the state’s gun control laws to prevent mass shootings, but the move is facing pushback from Second Amendment groups which say it would be unconstitutional.
Lamont’s proposal, which will be unveiled as part of this preliminary budget proposal, calls for increasing the age to buy firearms to 21, closing “loopholes in the state’s assault weapons ban and prohibiting the sale of large-capacity firearm magazines.”
Lamont said the “commonsense” changes come in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide. He said the state’s gun control laws have “not kept up with the innovative ways firearm companies are manufacturing guns that have the sole purpose of killing the largest number of humans within the shortest amount of time.”
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A coalition of 18 state attorneys general, all Democrats, on Wednesday submitted an amicus brief in support of New York’s firearms industry accountability law.
In the brief, the coalition led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul asserts the law’s legitimacy to protect residents public health, safety and welfare.
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Virginia Democrats are pushing for stricter gun safety measures during the 2023 legislative session in response to what they say is an “epidemic” of gun violence.
Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate have introduced a range of gun control proposals, including bills that will prohibit individuals from carrying assault weapons in certain public areas and prohibit the sale of unserialized weapon parts, more commonly known as “ghost guns.”
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Pennsylvania state Senator Cris Dush (R-Bellefonte) is asking colleagues to cosponsor legislation to let law-abiding state residents carry concealed firearms without a permit, something he tried but failed to get enacted last session.
The senator’s original bill passed the General Assembly in autumn of 2021 but Governor Tom Wolf (D) vetoed it. Its chances of becoming law have diminished even further insofar as Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro recently was elected in November to succeed Wolf and Democrats won a majority of seats in the state House of Representatives.
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Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson held a press conference Monday to announce three new measures for the upcoming 2023 legislative session that aims to curb gun violence in the state.
The measures would ban assault style weapons, hold manufacturers and retailers accountable for gun sales and implement a permit-to-purchase requirement for all gun buyers, according to a press conference. Inslee cited an increase in gun violence as the reason for the new legislation, and believes the laws, along with mental health assistance, will curb gun violence in Washington.
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A recently passed Oregon gun law will not take effect Thursday, following a high court ruling by Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters, who denied Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s request to remove a hold on the law, according to The Associated Press.
The law, Ballot Measure 114, was subject to multiple lawsuits following its passing in November, and Rosenblum’s request sought to overturn a lower court’s ruling by Harney County Judge Robert Raschio, which placed a hold on the law’s implementation Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The ballot measure is considered one of the strictest gun regulations in the country, and if implemented, will require background checks, firearm training, fingerprint collection and a permit to purchase any firearm.
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After three football players were killed in a shooting at the University of Virginia and six people were killed in a shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, gun groups are cautioning against efforts to impose stricter gun control measures.
On November 13, three UVA football players were killed after a man allegedly opened fire in a bus after returning to the university from a class trip. A little more than a week later, six people were killed in a Walmart in Chesapeake after a man allegedly opened fire because of grievances against some Walmart employees.
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Oregon voters on Wednesday passed Ballot Measure 114, one of the most restrictive gun control measures in the country.
The ballot measure passed 51% to 49%, with 77% reporting, according to the Oregonian. Though the results were close with just over three-fourths of the vote tallied, the remaining counties of Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas all heavily favor the measure.
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