The Tennessee Faith & Freedom Coalition (TNFFC) called on Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) Monday to cancel his proposed August 21 special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
“We are writing you because you have made it clear that you are planning to use your authority to officially call an ill-advised special session of the Tennessee General Assembly on August 21st to address gun issues in the aftermath of the Covenant School shooting tragedy, a heinous and despicable act committed by a mentally ill individual who claimed to be on the transgender spectrum,” the TNFFC said in a letter sent to the governor. A copy of the letter was also sent to all members of the Tennessee General Assembly.
“In the interest of public safety, the safety of downtown Nashville, the safety of those brave men and women charged with maintaining order at the Capitol, the safety of legislators, staff, interns, and visitors, and in defense of the Constitution – we, the Board of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, plainly and emphatically oppose the calling of a special session of the General Assembly on this issue and are prayerfully writing to strongly urge that you reverse course on your plan, not call a special session, and wait until normal session in January to make proposals for the legislature to consider – as is the normal process of government,” the letter continued.
The letter pointed to credible evidence that far left activists – many from out-of-state – intend to disrupt the planned August 21 special session and may pose a significant threat to the safety of legislators and the public in general at the Capitol in Nashville.
“[T]hat heinous act of the murder [at Covenant School on March 27] of six individuals has been politicized by far Left activists and anti-Second Amendment groups funded by Leftist interests, the Biden Administration, Marxist agitators in the General Assembly who nearly started a riot over legislatures lack of desire to take away our Second Amendment constitutional rights – namely Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson, and others who wish to make every inroad they can in order to fulfil their ultimate goal of eliminating the constitutional protections that exist in the Second Amendment,” the letter noted.
An attachment to the two page letter added specifics:
In mid-May of this year, the content of a Marxist agitator meeting was obtained by The Tennessee Star and other news outlets.
Comments like the following one made by Julie Edwards, the Advocacy & Organizing manager for Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi pervaded the meeting:
“Keep in mind, the special session is August 21st, so everything we learn here today is to be applied towards the special session,” she said. “So, we are investing in y’all as activists, with the promise that y’all will show up when we need you to show up. Including August, but also I know some of y’all aren’t from Nashville so we’re trusting y’all to go back in your communities, share this information and ___ it up when it needs to happen.”
Another comment about the meeting was:
“So this is like very much an intro into protest safety and what to do – how to come up with a plan if you are gonna plan an action,” the organizer said. “But a big part of doing protest safety is knowing where you are best suited for. If you are best suited for logistics, you’re not best suited to be a safety captain that day. If you are somebody who shows up armed and you have that training, you are best suited to be off the safety roster that day.”
That is but a sampling of the proof that Marxists are planning on flooding Nashville and the capacity for violence is high. The Tennessee Highway Patrol and downtown Nashville experienced what the Left is capable of in the late-spring/early-summer of 2020.
Security expert and TN FFC Board Chair Aaron Spradlin, who was recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly for his work protecting members of that body, predicts massive protests and nefarious actions by the Marxist anti-constitutional activists.
Spradlin states, “This situation is a powder keg. The capacity for violence, agitation, and danger for the members of the General Assembly, their staff, law enforcement, and the citizens of Tennessee is nearly limitless. This could conceivably dwarf what happened in 2020.”
The letter was sent on behalf of all of the board members of TNFFC, which includes Executive Director Aaron Gulbransen, who worked previously as a reporter for The Tennessee Star.
The TNFFC also created a petition for those who agree with the organization’s call to cancel the special session.
Read the letter here:
– – –
Michael Patrick Leahy is the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Gov. Bill Lee.
Existing Tennessee law already provides that an individual can be involuntarily committed for psychiatric evaluation, with or without a court order. No less a liberal bastion than “The Tennessean” notes this in this article published November 18, 2018:
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/11/18/mental-illness-involuntary-psychiatric-commitment-tennessee/1580525002/
Which begs the question: What is the point? Why? Firearms confiscation without due process, nothing less.
It is sad that Gov. Lee’s own daughter attempted to take her own life with a firearm – but again, that’s not the point. Lock up the loonies and the violent criminals and you will see a drop in violence.
Take a note from Jean Twenge’s “iGen” and address the skyrocketing suicide rates in young children – that coincides with the 2007 introduction of smartphones. Social media is a misnomer – it is driving an epidemic of narcissism and loneliness.
Bill Lee is the far left that posed as a Republican.
Bill Lee is no more than the political b@@#h of california Fascist Socialist gavin newsome.
Bill feels he is Fuhrer and can push the US Constitution aside to protect criminals and terrorists.
Time for a regime change in Tennessee.
Red Flag Laws are the creation of LAPD Brass and their Masters.
Perhaps the LAPD is controlled by the ghost of Mickey Cohen just like in the past.
Those that Bill wishes to protect are for the most part Religious Bigots.
He could have the meeting. But, do it somewhere like Adamsville, McNairy County. Meanwhile turn over Nashville Crowd control to deputized TN. Nat. Guard at the Parthenon, and the Grand Ol Opry.
Enhance and protect our school children, with armed security, just like we do for politicians, media people, pro sports and Hollywood stars. Then leave the rest of us and our State Declaration and U.S. Bill of Rights alone!
It works—which is the reason our elite ruling class and media don’t want it. It eliminates their reactionary, authoritarian pretext for citizen disarmament.
As history conclusively demonstrates:
ONLY YOUR ENEMY WANTS YOU DISARMED
I’m surprised he didn’t call this “Special Session” during Pride ( Trans) month.
Lee is showing his real self. He is not a defender of children.
Who ever gave these sick people an entire month to spread their propaganda?
Presidents & everyone who is of real importance get One Day. These Pervs get an entire month. Who gave them that?
No one voted on that BS.
IF NO RELEASE OF TRANS KILLER’S MANIFESTO
THERE SHOULD BE NO JUSTIFICATION FOR WASTING TAXPAYERS MONEY & REPRESENTATIVES TIME.
I THINK THE HOUSE SHOULD BOYCOTT A “SPECIAL SESSION”.
I believe most Tennesseans will agree.
– The children of Covenant School should be used to hide the ideology of the murderer who shot up their school?
– There should be a special session of the Tennessee Legislature to deal with gun violence but the documents and toxicology reports of the event that triggered the call for the special session should be withheld?
What are those who advocate for these initiatives really attempting to accomplish?
I suspect some Woke corporation has made a sweet deal with Lee contingent on (a) deflecting from the transgender/mental illness issue and (b) at least going through the motions of some form of gun control. That citizens around the Capitol along with the legislators themselves will be put in danger from communist thugs does not seem to matter to Lee. This is highly irresponsible and reckless. Lee has shown himself to be untrustworthy on a range of issues, but this type of careless disregard for safety seems out of character.
Hubris is not a trait that I expected from Bill Lee. Perhaps serving as the chief executive of the State has convinced him that simply because he said it will make it so. Crazy people and criminals have no right to do harm. People do have a right to protect themselves from those people. what is it that the Governor does not understand about that.