Metro Councilwoman Courtney Johnston, who recently announced a primary challenge to Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), previously urged Governor Bill Lee to call a special session to pass legislation targeting firearms in a 2022 open letter.
Johnston argued in her letter that “thoughts and prayers are no longer enough” and urged Lee to “take a hard look at our policies and what we can and should do differently.”
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Israel is easing its gun laws with the goal of arming “as many citizens as possible,” according to Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, as former U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Gunter is urging Israelis to take up guns in self-defense after the horrific Hamas terror attacks.
“There’s a great desire of Israelis to protect their homeland,” Gunter told Just the News. “And I think along with that will be an increased desire to have gun ownership.
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Columbus officials won’t back away from their fight to enact more restrictive gun laws than the state allows.
City Attorney Zach Klein filed a motion to dismiss the state’s challenge of ordinances dealing with gun storage, high-capacity magazines and illegal guns, all more restrictive than state law.
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The Tennessee Republican State Executive Committee passed a resolution on Saturday that calls on Governor Bill Lee to forgo calling the Tennessee General Assembly for a special session addressing “public safety,” according to a report by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
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Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, guest host John Harris welcomed Majority Whip Johnny Garrett to the newsmaker line to talk about the probabilities and possibilities of passing pro-Second Amendment legislation.
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Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that he intends to call for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene a special legislative session in August to “strengthen public safety and preserve constitutional rights.”
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Governor Bill Lee announced Friday that he will call for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene a special session in order to “pass legislation that will strengthen public safety and preserve constitutional rights.”
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The Tennessee House Education Administration Committee has passed a bill out of the committee that allows those teachers who wish to carry a firearm, to do so, provided their District Superintendent signs off, and they meet prescribed requirements. Current law allows teachers who have served as law enforcement agents, to carry firearms. This bill, HB1202, would expand those eligible.
The vote passed, after nearly an hour of discussion, by a vote of 12-6. In opposition were three Republicans and three Democrats:
Representative Charlie Baum (R – Murfreesboro)
Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis)
Representative Mark White (R-Memphis)
Representative Harold Love (D-Nashville)
Representative Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis)
Representative Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville)
Representative Kirk Heston voted present.
Ohio cities can return to creating gun safety ordinances more than three years after the city of Columbus filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a bill passed by the General Assembly in 2018.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Friday the state will appeal a Franklin County judge’s ruling that temporarily blocked part of the state law that stops cities from creating local gun restrictions.
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House Bill 99 went into effect on Monday, allowing Ohio teachers to carry firearms into their classrooms.
State Representative Thomas Hall (R-Madison Twp.) spearheaded the measure, which focuses on school gun and safety training. “We are doing something to help protect the lives of our children and staff at schools here in Ohio,” Hall said during the bill’s signing ceremony in June.
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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed John Harris, founder of the Tennessee Firearms Association, in studio to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s decision to throw out a century-old law that would restrict gun ownership and require special licensing.
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State Rep. Darisha Parker (D-PA-Philadelphia) this week began asking fellow lawmakers to cosponsor a bill to raise the minimum firearm purchase and possession age in Pennsylvania from 18 to 21.
The freshman representative cited data from the San Francisco-based Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence indicating that U.S. residents ages 18 to 20 account for 17 percent of confirmed murderers despite being only four percent of the population. She also noted that those ages 14 to 21 have the highest propensity toward suicide or attempted suicide among all Americans.
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Gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake struck a defiant tone Wednesday after 14 Senate Republicans crossed party lines and voted with Democrats on a gun control bill.
“Arizona is a Second Amendment sanctuary state, and Kari Lake will ensure it stays that way. Republicans in Washington repeatedly fail to understand that, on every single issue, any deal we make with Democrats is just the first step on a slippery slope,” a spokesman for Lake’s campaign told The Arizona Sun Times. “They don’t make deals, they just take whatever ground Republicans are willing to cede and then keep marching forward with their leftist agenda.”
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Connecticut state Sen. Will Haskell (D-Bethel) last weekend took to the airwaves in support of his proposal to limit gun sales in the Constitution State to one per month.
“We know that handguns sold alongside other handguns in a bulk sale, they’re 64 percent more likely to be used in a criminal manner,” he told WCBS News Radio 880. “Most of the hunters in my district tell me that they don’t really purchase more than one gun per month, typically. I hope that they’ll come to the table on a very commonsense restriction that will save lives.”
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Georgia is working to create Behavioral Threat Assessment Teams throughout the state as a part of a broader school safety effort.
Eight regional Homeland Security Coordinators, all sworn law enforcement officers, will lead the teams and respond to threats or concerning behavior that may be considered a pathway to violence. The BTATs will provide help and guidance to local schools and communities to mitigate potential threats.
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The U.S. background check system prevented over 300,000 gun sales in 2020, a record high, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Background checks blocked almost double the number of sales in 2020 compared to the year before, with 42% of rejections due to felony convictions, according to FBI data obtained by the AP. The data also shows that the rate of barred would-be gun owners increased from 0.6% to 0.8% over the past two years.
The rate increase could be because a number of people buying guns for the first time did not realize they were unable to purchase a gun, Adam Winkler, a UCLA Law professor specializing in gun policy, told the AP. “Some may have a felony conviction on their record and not think about it,” he said.
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Monday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio to weigh in on peaceful assembly legislation in Florida, a retrospective on Jim Crow voting laws and how those compare to gun laws today in blue states.
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Friday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Coloradoan and IWF’s Laura Carno to the newsmakers line to weigh in on her latest piece about gun control and bringing Colorado back in the red.
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Gun, ammo sales, and concealed pistol license (CPL) applicants have skyrocketed in Michigan since 2020.
In January 2021, Michigan added 13,891 net CPL holders to reach 717,281 – the most significant one-month change since 2008, when the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners started tracking monthly records.
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A bill before the Ohio House would eliminate the requirement for those carrying a gun to tell law enforcement officers they have it. Instead, they only would need to mention it if asked.
Rep. Scott Wiggam, R-Wayne County, said the state’s current law is unclear and its penalties are too harsh. His bill, House Bill 89, changes that.
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Legislation that would prohibit most people from possessing guns near a polling place passed the Virginia Senate on Thursday and is heading to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk for his signature.
If signed into law, House Bill 2081, sponsored by Del. Mark Levine, D-Alexandria, would prohibit knowingly possessing firearms within 40 feet of the locations beginning one hour before polls are open and an hour after they close. Violation would be a Class 1 misdemeanor if convicted, which is punishable by up to 12 months in jail, a fine up to $2,500 or both.
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The Norfolk 2nd Amendment Preservation Coalition achieved all necessary signatures required to have the city council review its petition. This followed last Friday’s court decision to award the coalition as much time necessary to gather signatures.
“We think a decision like this is too important to let seven partisan city council members decide,” Republican Party of Norfolk Chairman and Norfolk 2nd Amendment Preservation Coalition Founder Robert “Bob” Brown said.
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Three Ohio counties have declared themselves as Second Amendment Sanctuaries, leading one journalist to sarcastically suggest the General Assembly should make the Statehouse a sanctuary too — despite guns being banned from there.
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by Whitney Tipton Former President Barack Obama told a crowd in Brazil Thursday that U.S. gun laws “don’t make sense” because people can buy “any weapon, any time.” Obama‘s remarks came during an interview at VTEX DAY, a conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after he was asked to describe his hardest day as president. “The most difficult day that I’ve had was the day that there was a shooting in a school where 20 small children were shot,” he said. “Some of you may be aware, our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon, any time without much, if any, regulation. They buy it over the internet. They can buy machine guns.” U.S. Federal firearms laws are stricter than Obama represented. Gun purchasers must be at least 18 for rifles and shotguns, and 21 for handguns, and pass a background check if they buy from a dealer, according to the National Rifle Association. In addition, fully automatic machine guns cannot be sold to private citizens, as written in the National Firearms Act. Obama’s comments about guns are timely for Brazil. In January, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued a temporary decree that…
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by Neetu Chandak A Harvard University graduate student was asked to look for another apartment by her landlord after roommates intruded the student’s room and found guns. The roommates searched 24-year-old Leyla Pirnie’s drawers, closet and under the bed for the guns, The Washington Free Beacon reported Friday. “When I asked them why they were in my room to begin with, they each came up with completely contradicting stories (none of which made any sense), but one comment struck me in particular: ‘We saw that you had a Make America Great Again hat and come on, you’re from Alabama … so we just kind of assumed that you had something,’” Pirnie said, the Beacon reported. “I asked why they didn’t just call me and ask me before intruding. One of the girls responded that fear took over her body and she felt compelled to search my room until she found proof … I cannot make this up.” One of the roommates emailed landlord Dave Lewis after finding the guns and expressing discomfort, according to the Beacon. “That being said, it’s clear that the rest of the housemates are extremely uncomfortable with the idea of Firearms being kept in the…
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