Tennessee’s Democrat elected officials will embark upon a statewide bus tour to discuss gun violence, which will end at the state capitol on the first day of the August special session on gun control.
“I’m here to announce a statewide effort that we are spearheading,” said Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville), the Democrat caucus chair in a Monday morning press conference. “You know, too often we state legislators spend a great deal of time up here in the state capitol spinning our wheels about important issues. But today I’m announcing that my colleagues and I are putting some wheels on the road and heading out across the state to personally hear from and speak with Tennessee families on this important matter.”
Clemmons, flanked by State Sens. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) and Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville), said that Democrat elected officials in the state want to hear from Tennesseans regarding their questions, concerns and objections when it comes to gun control legislation.
“Gun violence is a personal issue to the families who are impacted by this,” he said. It’s a personal issue to the communities who are impacted by gun violence. And so we want, and we need to have personal conversations in their own communities, and we’re gonna do that across the state of Tennessee.”
Citing Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s call to implement gun control measures, including red flag laws, Clemmons said that gun control should not be a partisan issue.
“I’m here to personally invite Gov. Bill Lee, the First Lady, [and] every one of my GOP colleagues, to get on the bus,” he said. “Advocacy groups, parents, victims, faith leaders, teachers, everyone is invited, because this impacts all of us.”
The Tennessee Star recently reported an uptick in new out-of-state gun control activist groups popping up across the state, including lobbyists from the Sandy Hook Promise Action Fund and a nonprofit called Voices for a Safer Tennessee.
Clemmons said there will be up to eight statewide stops for events, and that the bus will stop in numerous other rural and suburban communities. The tour will begin next week in Memphis, and will work its way east, according to Clemmons, finishing on the first day of the special session in Nashville, which is August 21.
“Our last stop will be right here at the state capitol, on the first day of the special session,” he said.
He said the schedule for the bus’ stops will be announced in the upcoming days.
The microphone was then turned over to Oliver.
“Gun violence should not be a major disruption to our lives, to our schools, to our churches, because this is the time to act,” she said. “The Democrats have been, you know, we’ve been leading on this issue for a long time. It’s not new. What is new is the opportunity to turn tragedy into policy action. That’s the opportunity before us. The Covenant families want collaboration. They want peace. And so do we.”
Oliver said that the state should not allow people who are a danger to themselves to obtain firearms, which is the core idea behind the red flag laws peddled by Lee and Democrats.
Campbell, currently lagging in the polls in Nashville’s mayoral race, did not speak.
Tennessee’s Republican legislators have said that they will not consider red flag legislation.
“Any red flag law is a non-starter for House Republicans,” they said on Twitter in April. “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.”
When Clemmons took questions at the end of the press conference, he was asked why Democrats should spend money on a bus tour if Republicans have already made up their minds.
Clemmons responded curtly.
“This isn’t about politics,” he said. “This is about doing what the people of Tennessee want and deserve. So I don’t care what they’ve said. They should be going out there and asking for the people’s blessings and asking for their forgiveness for standing in the way of progress and public safety.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Image “Democratic Caucus Press Conference” by Tennessee House Democratic Caucus.
Should have had the Billy Lee “Really Big Show” in McNairy County TN.
OK, so major airlines do not fly in there. Could have landed in Memphis and drove over, bused over, Uber’d over, etc.
In South Africa they chant “kill the Boer!” Farm invasions, rapes, murders, torture! Bill Lee call this off! You are opening the door that circumvents regular legislative checks and balances bringing on no end of unintended consequences.
“The killing fields” is what they called Cambodia after the tyrant Pol Pot took over in the 70’s. While teaching on an army base I came across a copy of Vietnam magazine that showed photos of young boys collecting long guns with flatbed trucks and piling them in a major intersection of Phnom Penh, the capital city; the people were being disarmed. A subsequent photo of another type followed, that of piles of human skulls placed neatly on some storage shelves. They said the piles of human skulls grew so large that a rider on horseback could not see over them.
Years later the mother-in-law of one of my student’s was supposed to return to Cambodia due to the death of a family member. She was said to be frightened to death of even the thought of returning to where she had witnessed the death of 2,200,000 of her country’s five million souls during a time span of four years.
A well armed and well educated people are a peaceful people.
I want to know if Governor Bill Lee accepted the illegal money from the Department of Justice to implement red flag laws in pro-gun states. There needs to be an investigation on this matter. All gun control and red flag laws are unconstitutional.