Donald Trump Jr. served as the keynote speaker at the Tennessee Firearms Association Legislative Action Committee’s (TFALAC) annual convention on Saturday at the Wilson County Fairgrounds in Lebanon.
“We have to fight for all our freedoms,” Trump Jr. told the crowd, speaking of the ineptness of the current regime. “We have to fight every day.”
Attendees also listened to performances by the Dugger Band and John Rich, who also addressed the crowd about his role in TFA’s Red Flag Down Initiative.
TFA started its Red Flag Down media campaign in opposition to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s call for a special session in the General Assembly to consider possible gun control legislation, which ended up being successful.
TFA’s Sumner County Chapter acknowledged Rich’s work on the campaign and his remarks at the event Saturday, writing in a Facebook post, “John Rich did a great job as well and we are thankful for him leading the charge in our successful campaign to prevent Red Flag Laws in Tennessee!”
Congressman Mark Green and Gun Owners of America’s Senior Vice President Erich Pratt took the stage in turn to round out the night’s all-star speakers’ lineup.
TFALAC’s annual convention is its main fundraiser. General admission tickets to the event were $80 per person with a VIP add-on option of $500, which included a separate meeting location with Trump Jr.
In an email to supporters, TFA said:
Tennessee’s Second Amendment supporters turned out for this event in record numbers to support the objective of making sure that any efforts by federal, state or local government entities operating in Tennessee are constrained at every point where they seek to violate the prohibitions on government authority that are expressly prohibited by the United States Constitution and the Supreme Court’s holdings. The Court’s recent holdings – which the Governor and many Legislators appear to plainly ignore – make clear that the Second Amendment’s “shall not be infringed” mandate is not simply an archaic aspirational statement but that it is a stone wall block attempted government abuses like those proposed in Tennessee this year.
The estimated costs of this year’s event – approximately $20,000 – were covered all by a single donor, according to TFA.
Organizers say that in all, the event could gross over $225,000, the proceeds of which will be “invested in the campaigns to stop the expected gun control agenda from Governor Lee in 2024.”
The resources will also be used to support and promote “proven Second Amendment candidates in 2024 for the Tennessee Legislature,” as well as challenge some state incumbent who have “demonstrated a willingness to enact gun control legislation” that organizers say they believe would violate the Second Amendment.
“This means that almost every sponsorship, donation, vendor, table sale and ticket sale is going perhaps 100% to the “war chest” we need to elect the right 2nd Amendment stewards to the Tennessee Legislature,” the group writes on its website.
Outside of the venue Saturday, the group Moms Demand Action protested TFALAC’s convention by staking 1,385 flags into the ground to “represent the number of Tennesseans killed by guns annually.”
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Donald Trump Jr.” by Ken Jr Nelson. Event photos courtesy Mae Beavers/Facebook.
Many thanks to TFA & John Rich for the hard work & great job protecting our 2nd Amendment rights for Tennesseans.
Thanks as well to Don Jr. for coming to support our great organization. This is Trump Country.
Protect our 2nd Amendment. Thats the only thing that guarantees our Liberty.
Join
tennesseefirearmsassociation.com
According to the state department of health, the latest fatality data published is for 2020 and shows for ages 1-14 the leading cause of death is “accidents and adverse effects” at a rate 3 times higher than the homicide rate – which is homicides by all means, not solely by firearm but doesn’t include suicides, which aren’t on the list at all. For ages 15-24, (still “children”?) the leading cause of death was also still “accidents and adverse effects”, with homicides a distant second at a 2.5x lower rate and suicides third at a 3.5x lower rate than accidents.
https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/statistics/health-data/death-statistics.html
Why does Moms Demand Action lie about both the leading causes of deaths for TN children and the suicide rate?