A bill passed by the Tennessee General Assembly prevents credit card companies from monitoring and tracking gun purchasers through merchant category codes (MCCs).
HB 2762, also known as the Second Amendment Financial Privacy Act, was sent to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk last week.
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Conservative commentators blasted California’s governor after he took to X to comment on the Tennessee Senate’s passage of a bill that would allow some teachers to carry guns in the classroom.
“Tennessee Republicans have decided their solution to gun violence in schools is…. MORE GUNS IN SCHOOLS,” said Governor Gavin Newsom (D).
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Tennessee teachers could soon be allowed to carry firearms while on school property. The State Senate is poised to vote on legislation allowing faculty and staff to carry concealed weapons if they are licensed, trained, and undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Tuesday to advance SB 1325, which would authorize school faculty or staff members “to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds subject to certain conditions, including obtaining an enhanced handgun carry permit and completing annual training.”
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A “non-partisan” political activism group that calls for gun control held a rally in Nashville Wednesday night on the year anniversary of the mass shooting at The Covenant School.
“Together, we will wear red and link arms as we mark the anniversary of one of our community’s darkest days and honor the memory of the hundreds of Tennessee lives lost to preventable firearm tragedies over the last year,” Voices for a Safer Tennessee said on its website. “Our goal is to form a chain of 13,000 people from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt through Centennial Park and up Charlotte Avenue to our state capitol.”
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Governor Glenn Youngkin on took action regarding 67 pieces of legislation Tuesday, with a number of gun control bills vetoed, amended or signed by the governor.
Youngkin said in a statement his actions represent a balance between advancing public safety and “protecting the right of law-abiding Virginians to keep and bear arms.”
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) said the Department of Justice’s new National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center in an “unauthorized attack” on the Second Amendment.
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Candice Keller, who is running in the Republican primary for Ohio State Senate District 4, said she decided to run to unseat State Senator George Lang (R-District 4) after learning the incumbent Republican sponsored the Ohio Fairness Act.
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Governor Glenn Youngkin must decide the fate of gun rights in Virginia after Democrats narrowly passed three bills they claim will reduce gun violence in the commonwealth.
The bills, passed by the Virginia General Assembly between Wednesday and Friday, seek to regulate how gun owners in the commonwealth must store their firearms and where they can be carried.
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The South Carolina House advanced a clean Constitutional Carry bill, returning the measure to the state Senate and potentially setting up another showdown.
The state House rejected a Senate-amended version of H.3594, the South Carolina Constitutional Carry/Second Amendment Preservation Act of 2023. In a letter, the head of a pro-gun rights group said Senate-introduced amendments violate the Second Amendment.
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As 2023 drew to a close, millions of peaceable Americans geared up for a new year that will bring with it many new limitations on their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
In California, for example, Jan. 1 was the date to ring in the state’s plethora of new restrictions on carrying concealed firearms in public, courtesy of SB 2, a law passed in the wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen to punish concealed carry permit holders for having their rights vindicated by the Supreme Court.
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The foundation created by Mexican-American “social entrepreneur” and billionaire Daniel Lubetzky is funding a group called the “Tennessee 11,” which seeks to pass a red flag law and other gun control legislation this year in Tennessee.
Lubetzky is the founder of the snack company Kind LLC, and it was reportedly worth $5 billion when the company was sold to Mars Inc. in 2020. When the company was under his management, Lubetzky was named a Presidential Ambassador of Global Entrepreneurship by former President Barack Obama and his administration’s Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker.
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As cities across the country reel from explosive crime rates, many politicians at the local, state, and federal levels are too preoccupied with disarming peaceable American gun owners to identify, arrest, and prosecute actual criminals adequately.
Two masked attackers met their match last month when they attacked Los Angeles resident Vince Ricci as he walked toward the front door of his house. The pair brandished a firearm at Ricci, who pulled out his own gun and shot at the thugs, who ran away.
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Tennessee U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07) introduced a bill Wednesday that would ensure the Department of Commerce follows the typical rulemaking procedure prior to any decision-making under Section 553 of the U.S. Code.
On October 27, the Department of Commerce announced an immediate pause on commercial firearm exports without prior notice.
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All eight Tennessee Republican U.S. Representatives have signed onto a letter sent to the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an agency of the Department of Commerce, demanding its recent 90-day pause on civilian firearm exports be lifted immediately.
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How certain should we be that someone did something wrong before they lose their right to own a gun? Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could have a major impact on how courts evaluate the constitutionality of gun control laws. The Biden administration asked for a review of the 5th Circuit Court’s decision not to deprive Zackey Rahimi of his right to own guns.
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Attorney General Kris Mayes wants to propose red flag laws, but Republican lawmakers say it will not stand a chance in the Legislature.
The laws Mayes wants would be targeted toward those who would be determined to be a risk to the safety of schools, according to Arizona’s Family. The report said that Mayes would be proposing legislation that would also allow firearms belonging to adults could be targeted if there is evidence that a minor in their household poses a risk of misusing those weapons.
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In all my years of existence, the Second Amendment of our Constitution has always been considered controversial. Opponents claim it is the cause of gun violence. Proponents assert that it helps guarantee freedom and safety.
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The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a federal judge’s order suspending the Biden administration’s “ghost guns” rule, which regulates gun parts kits as traditional firearms.
After blocking U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision to vacate the rule nationwide in August, the Supreme Court vacated O’Connor’s more recent Sept. 14 injunction suspending enforcement of the regulation against two manufacturing companies, Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed. The justice’s decision leaves in place the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “Frame or Receiver” rule, which expands the definition of firearm to encompass parts kits that are “readily convertible to functional weapons” or “functional ‘frames’ or ‘receivers’ of weapons.
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The Left constantly reassures Americans that they do not want to take away firearms, but actions speak louder than words.
In September, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) used an emergency public health order to suspend the Second Amendment for 30 days in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County. Grisham knew fully well that she was violating the Constitution (in fact, she happily admitted so). A handful of gun control advocates quickly condemned her unprecedented decision, but not because they respect the Constitution.
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Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson held a weekend ribbon cutting ceremony at its new $160 million headquarters in Maryville, leaving its former home in Massachusetts behind.
“From where I stand, the next 170 years of Smith & Wesson are looking pretty good,” said the company’s CEO and President Mark Smith at the ceremony. “It is something special here in Tennessee.”’
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Three Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives signed a letter questioning Flagstaff’s plan to see firearm advertisements banned from public buildings and facilities. The letter came after Flagstaff city leaders received a draft of new advertising guidelines that explicitly ban any mention of firearms or ammunition, even though the previous policy focused on banning “violence” and “antisocial behavior” in the advertisements.
Arizona State Representatives David Marshall (R-Snowflake), Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu), and Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) warned the draft policy “raises a host of constitutional concerns, including viewpoint discrimination, and very likely violates state law,” urging the city leaders to “postpone your consideration” until the new policy adheres Arizona law and the U.S. Constitution.
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New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez announced Tuesday that he will not defend Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a fellow Democrat, in multiple filed lawsuits opposing her gun ban.
“I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety,” Torrez’s letter reads. “I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.
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As the nation continues to reel from historic violent crime spikes, many gun control activists turn reflexively to the same “bumper sticker slogan” policy “solutions” that fail to address real problems while often undermining the Second Amendment rights of peaceable citizens.
Last week, some Hartford, Connecticut, residents made headlines for taking a different approach. Instead of demanding that their fellow citizens abandon their rights to armed self-defense, they announced that they would henceforth start exercising those rights in a public manner to enhance community safety.
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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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Many people believe that one of the best defenses to an armed attack on any location, including a school, is an immediate armed response. Certainly, the actions already taken this year to put “school resource officers” in public schools with taxpayer funding evidences at least some in government and many in the public see the life saving necessity of an immediate armed response to a potential mass killing or assault.
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Sparks fly in Tuesday’s edition of Aaron’s Analysis on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, as official guest host Aaron Gulbransen directly confronts swirling around the politics of Gov. Lee’s proposed “red flag” gun control law. In a rare moment, Gulbransen shares shocking details about his past and how that informs his insights into what he thinks which measures will and won’t pass during the upcoming special session. TRANSCRIPT Aaron Gulbransen: So, I wanna set this up: I absolutely despise talking about myself other than telling funny stories, but I feel I must point out a few things so the audience can understand where I’m coming from in general, and how I view things politically in special session. The audience knows me, of course, as the official guest host of this program and the executive director of The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition. I am, long ago, a Blue State refugee. I got my start in politics as a volunteer for the Long Island Coalition for Life, the oldest pro-life organization in the country, folding and distributing their newsletter. My first paid campaign was in the year 2000 against Hillary Clinton. Years later, I moved to Virginia and…
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The Tennessee Star Report host Michael Patrick Leahy took to the airwaves Monday morning to break down Governor Bill Lee’s call for an “extraordinary” special session.
By looking into the recent past, Leahy shows listeners how Lee’s “laundry list” of eighteen line items are little more than a smoke screen to hide the central purpose of the August 21 session, which is to pass legislation that will fundamentally alter the nature of gun ownership in Tennessee.
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Illinois’ gun and magazine ban remains in place after being upheld by a split Illinois Supreme Court.
The anticipated ruling in the case brought by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, was released Friday.
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Months ago, while the Legislature was still in its regular session, Governor Lee asked them to enact his Red Flag law which was his immediate, some might say knee-jerk – response to the Covenant School murders. The Legislature rejected that request, deferred almost all remaining 2nd Amendment legislation to 2024 and instead adjourned. Before most of them could get home, Governor Lee announced that he was going to call them back into a special legislative session to consider and pass his Red Flag proposal.
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The Supreme Court stayed Tuesday a lower court decision to vacate a rule designed to crack down on “ghost guns” by regulating gun parts kits as traditional firearms.
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Second Amendment expert and Executive Director of the Tennessee Firearms Association John Harris joined host Michael Patrick Leahy in-studio on Wednesday’s episode of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the high burden lawmakers must overcome in order for new gun control laws to pass constitutional muster, and the rumors at the state Capitol swirling around who is behind the push. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: 6:34 a.m., broadcasting live from our studios on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. In studio, a very good friend, John Harris, the executive director of Tennessee Firearms Association. John, the shortest amendment to the Constitution is the Second Amendment. And it basically says “the right to bear arms shall not be infringed.” Now to me, that’s pretty clear, “shall not be infringed.” Is there any lack of clarity in that to you? John Harris: There is not. But you know, I’ve been doing it for 30 years, so I’ve got a learning curve ahead of a lot of legislators because it is such a complicated concept– Michael Patrick Leahy: “Shall not be infringed?” John Harris: When you have a concept that is defined with a single period, it doesn’t leave a…
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A new nonprofit that has set its sights on gun control in Tennessee is run by wealthy Republican and Democrat political insiders, The Tennessee Star has found.
Voices for a Safer Tennessee pitches itself as an upstart group comprised of both Democrats and Republicans that spontaneously formed in the wake of The Covenant School shooting in Nashville on March 27.
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Cleveland-area lawmakers are citing a Sunday-morning mass shooting that wounded nine people in the popular Warehouse District to push gun safety legislation already introduced in the House.
“What played out in our community is just one of more than 365 mass shootings in the U.S. this year already,” State Reps. Darnell Brewer, D-Cleveland, Terrence Upchurch, D-Cleveland, and Juanita Brent, D-Cleveland, said in a joint statement. “Ohioans can’t afford to wait for more proof that it is well past the time to pass common sense gun safety measures that will keep our children, families and communities safe. Congress must step up and we will continue to engage our Ohio House of Representatives colleagues in meaningful dialogue to come together and find common ground to reduce gun violence and keep people safe.”
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After issuing a string of conservative rulings this week to close out the term, the Supreme Court will hear a key Second Amendment case later this year to determine whether a federal ban on gun possession affecting those under domestic violence restraining orders is constitutional.
At issue is a dispute involving Zackey Rahimi, whom Texas placed under a restraining order due to a violent altercation with his girlfriend, The Hill reported. He subsequently faced federal charges of possessing a firearm while under the order. He had challenged the constitutionality of the ban but pleaded guilty after losing the case.
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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University rescinded its agreement to host a College Republicans United convention “after doing research” on the group.
Richard Thomas, founder of the group, told The College Fix that the event was to be located at the university’s “Lower Hangar” at its Prescott, Arizona campus for three hours and cost a total of $630.00 for media, support and cleanup.
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Attorney, founder of the Tennessee Firearms Association, and Second Amendment expert John Harris joined The Tennessee Star Report’s Michael Patrick Leahy in studio Wednesday to discuss the upcoming special session proposed – but not yet formally called by – Gov. Bill Lee. TRANSCRIPT Michael Patrick Leahy: In studio right now, our very good friend, John Harris – founder and executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association. The word of the day, John, is “clarity.” Clarity. Okay, so I made fun of Governor Lee for his clear-as-mud statement in regards to the release of the Covenant Killer’s Manifesto. There’s no way you can understand exactly what he was trying to say there. It’s incomprehensible. Now, let’s take that thought and put it aside for a moment. The governor has stated publicly that he’s gonna call a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly on August 21st to deal with the issue of quote, “public safety” – translation: “red flag law” – to limit the Second Amendment rights of Tennesseans. He, I think, has used the same concept of “clarity” in developing the details of his proposal, and it’s not going over very well at all with members of the Tennessee General…
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A group of young far-left activists protested in favor of gun control in Sumner County Friday.
A coalition called Protect Guns Not Kids is a pop-up group that has gained traction by protesting against guns across Tennessee, including at the Tennessee Capitol, after a mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville that claimed six lives.
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Tennessee’s House Majority Whip Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville) told The Tennessee Star Thursday that he has spoken directly to Gov. Bill Lee (R) and that he will not be supporting Lee’s agenda to implement red flag laws during the upcoming special session of the General Assembly.
“There is no red flag proposal from Gov. Lee to consider as our caucus will not support the destruction of our citizens’ constitutional rights,” said Garrett. “I have been in contact with the governor and have expressed the desire to address mental illness through treatment and resources for those who may be a threat to themselves and others. These conversations will continue, and we’ll determine the best ways we can help these individuals in crisis while improving public safety in communities across our state.”
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held this week in Range v. Garland that the government cannot disarm people convicted of minor, nonviolent offenses. In doing so, it handed down perhaps the most significant Second Amendment victory since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last year, where it held that Americans have a constitutional right to carry handguns in public for self-defense.
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Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has signed a sweeping gun control law that bans open carry of firearms and further tightens the state’s existing restrictions on military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.
The Democratic-led measure, signed by Lamont on Tuesday, limits handgun purchases to three per month, raises the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21 and regulates the sale of body armor to civilians, among other provisions.
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According to a memo from Republican Governor Bill Lee’s office on the subject of gun control, those in Lee’s camp believe that attempting it is not possible to contain mental illness, and thus his proposal for red flag laws should be implemented.
One of the memos, obtained via public records request by The Associated Press, claims that Lee accused the National Rifle Association (NRA) of wanting to use involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties.”
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A Milwaukee-based public interest law firm has won a key victory in a Second Amendment battle.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty on Wednesday secured a preliminary injunction in federal court on behalf of three veterans challenging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ rule regulating up to 40 million pistols equipped with stabilizing braces.
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Richey and his colleagues urge the governor to abandon the special session proposed for August 21 in response to The Covenant School tragedy, because the General Assembly can discuss and consider legitimate measures to improve public safety when it reconvenes in January 2024.
While acknowledging that the governor has the constitutional authority to call a special session, the letters states that it “will be a political event to put pressure on conservative Republicans to grow government and ignore the will of their constituents in service to the national woke mob that will descend on the Capitol.”
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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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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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In his first time speaking with reporters after his controversial calls for “order of protection” (red flag) laws, Gov. Bill Lee (R) defended his position, as well as the upcoming special legislative session that will be focused on gun control.
“It is a very important conversation that I think Tennesseans want us to have,” said Lee, according to WTVF. “We oughta find a way to separate those who are a threat to others and a threat to themselves from having access to weapons.”
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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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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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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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Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Firearms Associations’ founder, John Harris to the newsmaker line to comment on Governor Bill Lee’s approach to holding a special session to advance red flag laws despite General Assembly’s cold shoulder.
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