Left-wing protesters disrupted the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition’s monthly meeting in Williamson County Tuesday night, which focused on the group’s efforts to combat human trafficking in the state.
About 80 protesters gathered outside the event at the Williamson County Library. Inside, an audience of about 100 people heard the evening’s speakers.
Last week, The Tennessee Star reported that the protesters planned to attend the event with the goal of hijacking it and turning its focus from human trafficking to gun control.
While most protesters remained outside, some made their way into the meeting, and one was removed for disrupting Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), who was a featured speaker at the event.
State Sen. Jack Johnson (R-District 27) also spoke at the event, which Gulbransen said turned into a referendum on gun control during the question and answer portion.
Johnson is a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment, and Gulbransen says most of the protesters showed up to confront him on the issue ahead of the special session of the General Assembly, which begins on August 21.
Johnson has spoken out against Gov. Bill Lee (R), who called the special session to focus on gun control and demanded that legislators deliver to his desk a red flag law bill.
“First of all, the Tennessee General Assembly will not pass any red flag law, period. I can promise you that is not going to happen,” Johnson told Star News Network CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on The Tennessee Star Report in April. “And let’s make sure that we’re on the same page about what a red flag law is. And a red flag law is a law that dispossesses you of your liberty. It takes away your liberty without due process.”
The protesters were led by Jared Sullivan, who runs a group called Common-Sense Tennessee, which he says is a nonpartisan organization that supports gun control.
“Ahead of the August 21st special session on public safety, Congressman Andy Ogles — aka the AR-15 Christmas-card guy — and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson — who represents Williamson County and has led the charge to loosen Tennessee’s gun laws — have announced that they’ll make rare public appearances at the library for a meeting of a political-advocacy group. So we’re going to be there, too,” Sullivan said in an email to supporters last week, rallying them to attend the event.
Gulbransen noted that far-left agitators from The Tennessee Holler, a left-wing activist group that masquerades as a news outlet, attended the event.
They chased Ogles and Johnson in the street while filming both lawmakers, shouting questions.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition was prepared for the protesters.
It released a statement last week which said in part:
While we are leaders on a variety of issues near and dear to the hearts of people of faith, conservatives, and people who value the U.S. Constitution, the central mission of the Tennessee Faith & Freedom Coalition is the eradication of the modern-day slavery that is child and human trafficking in the state of Tennessee.
The central theme of all of the meetings of our Williamson County Faith and Freedom Coalition chapter has been, and will continue to be, raising public awareness and advancing the cause of the elimination of the scourge that is trafficking in our state.
On August 15th, we are hosting Congressman Andy Ogles and State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson as our featured speakers at our Williamson County monthly meeting.
We emphasize that this upcoming meeting will be no different than our previous ones in that the issue of ending modern-day slavery will be the main theme.
It has come to our attention that some Marxist outlets have encouraged agitators to come to our event and disrupt it. It has also come to our attention that an anti-Second Amendment group based in Williamson County is staging a protest against our event.
We find it utterly disgusting that these groups would encourage agitators and protesters against an event where the main theme is saving children and women from the very real evil that is child and human trafficking.
Sadly, this is no surprise. The Left would rather take Constitutional rights away and score bogus political points than save lives – even and especially when it comes to the Second Amendment.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photographs courtesy of Daniel Jones.
These brainwashed fools should look at the murder statistics BY GUN in cities with the strictest gun laws. They also have the highest rates of murder by gun. Criminals DO NOT obey laws and when we restrict guns only the good guy suffers. These people just have nothing better to do in their self righteous lives than to stand on the street like fools protesting something they truly have no clue about.
The bleating sheep herd elderly edition…Baa, Baa, Baaaa
Always just effeminate males & ugly women with indoctrinated rotted minds.
Just like in the 1800’s and some of the 1900’s when the Democrats fought tooth and nail to preserve the institution of slavery, now we have the 21st century version of slavery with human trafficking. Using children and women as slaves to make money. And once again we have the same old Democrat mindset of preserving slavery. Different people, but same ideology.
Have some bikers for “stupid control”! When a disrupter tries to interfere with the planned meeting, he // she has two options, Leave, by walking out, or being thrown out, horizontally!
Can you imagine what the communist democrats AND the left wing news media would say if the positions were reversed??
These neo-Bolsheviks are following their political ancestors with a secular collectivist religion which seeks to criminalize, punish and attack the rights of Tennessee citizens for the actions of one murdering perp.
“In order to overthrow a nation its people must first be disarmed”
— Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto
“A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie.”
—Vladimir Lenin
leftists love human trafficking
Idiots.
Leftists are pedophiles