A Democrat State Representative from Nashville has introduced the first red flag laws during the special session of the General Assembly, which began Monday.
Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville) introduced HB 7100 Friday, which was followed by the introduction of its Tennessee Senate counterpart SB 7029 on Monday. State Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) is responsible for introducing SB 7029.
The summary of HB 7100 says:
As introduced, establishes a process for law enforcement to petition a circuit court for a temporary mental health order of protection for a person who poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to themselves or others by having a firearm.
Freeman also introduced HB 7099, which does not yet have a state senate counterpart.
The summary of HB 7099 says:
As introduced, allows a court to issue a risk protection order upon a finding by clear and convincing evidence that a person poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to the person or others if allowed to possess or purchase a firearm; authorizes a law enforcement officer to petition for the risk protection order.
Both bills, if passed by the general assembly and signed into law, would allow for firearms to be confiscated from armed citizens who have not broken any law, based on the discretion of a judge.
Called “mental health order of protection” and “risk protection order” respectively, both are what are commonly known as red flag laws.
Gov. Bill Lee (R) pushed for red flag laws in the wake of The Covenant School shooting, which was the impetus for the special session.
“We have shared a proposal with legislators that will improve ‘Order of Protection’ laws to strengthen safety & preserve constitutional rights,” Lee said on April 19. “I’m asking the General Assembly to pass this before they adjourn. It’s time to set aside politics. Tennesseans are depending on us.”
We have shared a proposal with legislators that will improve 'Order of Protection' laws to strengthen safety & preserve constitutional rights.
I'm asking the General Assembly to pass this before they adjourn.
It’s time to set aside politics. Tennesseans are depending on us. pic.twitter.com/2vOe1swgho
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) April 19, 2023
The Tennessee Star has been told by Republican lawmakers that no such bills will be passed.
State Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) told The Star last week that Lee had softened his position on red flag laws.
“The Governor is not pushing any type of gun control legislation nor is he pushing red flag legislation,” he told The Star by email. “I was on the legislative task force the Governor pulled together to discuss options. He never once brought up or asked us to support a red flag law during the 3 meetings we discussed specific topics.”
When Lee first announced his support for red flag laws, his calls were roundly rejected by House Republicans.
“Any red flag law is a non-starter for House Republicans,” the House majority party said on Twitter at the time. “Our caucus is focused on finding solutions that prevent dangerous individuals from harming the public and preserve the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. We have always been open to working with Governor Lee on measures that fit within that framework.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “State Rep Bob Freeman” by State Rep Bob Freeman and “Legislative Plaza” is by Andre Porter CC3.0.
For any of this proposed legislation, add wording that punishes anyone who falsely accuses or knowingly applies false claims to have someone’s guns taken from them.
Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao and many more had Red Flag Laws.
The educated of America and the World know how those worked out.
The first three names were Democrats.
A shame, kids are no longer taught about this evil by the Dept of Ed.
How dare these arrogant jerks get involved in mental health. That is not their job. Where in our US or state constitution are they given the authority to get involved in mental health? This is setting people up for the slightest thing to be deemed mentally ill and dangerous in order to take away their self defense. We are not stupid we know exactly what is taking place here. And those Tennesseans that want to end the ownership of guns will one day find out what happens to them when they are defenseless. They are brainwashed and refuse to look at the facts. EVERY city that has strict gun laws also has the highest murder and crime rates. And who is going to make these decisions? The red state of Tennessee is fast becoming a blue state which is the Democrats and infiltrators plan.
Start addressing transgenderism as the mental illness that it is and clowns such as Freeman will be trying to shout you down. Guns don’t kill people, transgenders and their enablers kill people. Put some legislation on the floor addressing transgenderism as a specific mental illness and the Marxists and the corporate shills won’t be able to pull down the circus tent quickly enough.
Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. All other genders are from Uranus.
“We have shared a proposal with legislators”
Who is “we” Bill? Why don’t you just executive order what you want some more? No one in the supermajority is stopping you. They haven’t tried.
Inalienable rights do not care about your politics or your worthless political parties. You have only sought to abridge constitutional rights in your reign. Lockdowns, edicts, spying, ridiculous medical tyrrany, robbing the public purse for Amazon,, Facebook, NFL, Ford, and stealing farms for Ford’s “free” highways. You have not demonstrated that your supermajority is capable of even voiding existing unconstitutional “laws”, let alone introduce new ones, like your fake, illegal, unconstitutional “constitutional carry law”.
Lee is an ESG clown. Government always finds a way to abuse these “laws”.
Freeman is a poor example of a politician. Needs to be replaced.
@Joe Blow: AGREED!
Red Flag laws in this special session are secondary to the expansion of government and the money it doles out. Stop teaching our children to behave badly.
So now the roaches pushing for red flag laws crawl out from their cracks. They need to be shut down pronto. In fact, the session needs to be shut down pronto.
So if this bill would have prevented Covenant you are defining trans as mental illness correct?