Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed John Harris, founder of the Tennessee Firearms Association, to the newsmaker line to comment on the recent decision on Second Amendment rights by the Court of Appeals last Thursday.
Leahy: On our newsmaker line, a very good friend, Executive Director and founder of the Tennessee Firearms Association, Mr. John Harris. Good morning, John.
Harris: Good morning, gentlemen. How are you all doing?
Leahy: We are delighted that you found time to talk with us today about this very important Court of Appeals decision here in the state of Tennessee. Came out last week and reaffirmed the rights of the Second Amendment rights of all citizens in Tennessee, including those who live in public housing. Tell us a little bit about this decision and its importance.
Harris: Sure. The case was released last week, last Thursday. And it started off relatively low-key in the court system because it was an action by Columbia Housing and the Redevelopment Corporation versus Braden, which is a low-income public housing entity that controls government-owned, in this case, municipal-owned housing in which Mr. Braden was a tenant.
And the case starts off with the Public Housing Authority, the government, attempting to evict him from his apartment because it was determined that he had a firearm in his apartment. And his lease agreement with this government entity had a provision in it that prohibited the tenants in this complex, not just him, but everybody, from having a firearm in their home.
And so when they went to the General Sessions Court at the lowest level, the judge agreed with the government and evicted him. He then appealed that to a trial court, a circuit court judge, who again agreed with the government and evicted him.
And he then appealed that to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, which last week held that a government landlord, because of the Second Amendment, cannot prohibit a tenant from possessing firearms in their own unit, their own home, if it’s one of the rental units.
And that’s what this case concluded. And it’s pretty significant in that the case is offered by Judge Clement, who has been a judge for a long time, writes excellent opinions, and it is one of the first cases we’ve seen in Tennessee from a state court now citing the Bruen decision from this past June.
Leahy: The Bruen decision. That’s the Supreme Court decision. Tell us about the Bruen decision for our listeners that aren’t up to speed on that.
Harris: The Bruen decision was the case brought by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association against the State of New York, which is represented by the entity or the individual Bruen. And it had to do with whether or not New York’s gun-permitting scheme, which for practical purposes prohibited people in the most serious, high-density parts of New York from being able to get a handgun permit to carry for self-defense outside the home.
And the Bruen case came down as a 6-3 decision where the Court said there is a right protected by the Second Amendment, not created by it, but protected by it, which allows the citizens of this country to carry firearms for self-defense in public.
And the Court basically said the state, under only very, very limited circumstances, can in any fashion infringe that right, that the circumstances in New York at that time didn’t meet that test, did not meet that standard.
And the court here in Tennessee last week essentially ruled the same thing, is that the state can’t claim that we need to prohibit guns for public safety in low-income housing as a reason that is going to survive constitutional challenge at this point.
Leahy: On appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, do you expect this Court of Appeals ruling to be upheld?
Harris: I do, at this point, expect the opinion, if it goes up, to be upheld. The big question is, would the Tennessee Supreme Court at this point take a discretionary appeal on this issue?
Leahy: Ah-ha! What do you think?
Harris: Because it’s not a required appeal under the Court’s jurisdiction. This is one that would be completely discretionary. And the Court may want to, since this is just a single opinion from one of the three grand divisions – we refer to it as the appellate court system, the Court may want to let this issue percolate a little bit and see what the other appellate courts do with it in the state if they deal with it.
Leahy: That makes sense to me. And by the way, John, just for all of our listeners who have recently arrived in the state of Tennessee from California or Washington state or Illinois, and there’s a growing number of people – you mentioned the three grand divisions; that’s the description of the three grand geographic divisions of Tennessee, West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and East Tennessee – and for those newcomers, when you see the flag of the state of Tennessee, the three stars, what are they for? They are for those three grand divisions.
Harris: Correct.
Leahy: Now, John. It’s interesting, because this seems like there does seem to be a movement towards greater Second Amendment rights among judges. Certainly the decision by the New York U.S. district judge in New York state, Glenn Sutterby, basically told the state of New York, you’ve created another bad law.
Go back and try to fix it, in essence. Combined with this Court of Appeals decision here, it does seem to be all moving towards more Second Amendment rights. Is that coming fast enough or should there be more?
Harris: Well, no, it’s not coming fast enough. And let’s be clear, the Second Amendment doesn’t create any rights. The Second Amendment is a guardrail that tells the federal government, you can’t infringe on these rights that existed before you even came into existence. And so what the courts have started doing, and it’s a slow evolution – Heller came down in 2008.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
