Governor Bill Lee issued a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to take up gun-control measures, including a controversial “red flag” bill that many of his GOP allies in the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly say is a non-starter.
The long-expected proclamation was leaked to the liberal Tennessee Lookout late Thursday afternoon before its official release.
Just in: @GovBillLee has issued a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to address topics including safe gun storage, mental health resources & the transfer of juvenile defendants 16 and up to criminal courts- and temporary orders of protection, pic.twitter.com/bcWQXiAh17
— Tennessee Lookout (@TNLookout) August 8, 2023
Lee’s document calls for the General Assembly to convene at 4 p.m. on August 21 to take up myriad public safety issues in the wake of the March 27 mass shooting at the Covenant Presbyterian School, the Nashville private elementary where three 9-year-olds and three staff members were murdered. The shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender male, was fatally shot by police 14 minutes after she began her deadly attack.
“Whereas, public safety is of prime importance to Tennesseans, and enhancing public safety requires a multi-faceted approach that likewise protects constitutional rights, and Whereas Tennessee and our nation continue to experience acts of mass violence …” the Republican governor wrote in the proclamation calling for the passage of a number of bills.
It’s the protection of constitutional rights that Second Amendment advocates worry about in what they see as a politically-driven special session called by a lame-duck governor who has compromised his conservative values in the name of compromise.
Lee is asking lawmakers to “consider and act upon” legislation regarding, among other topics:
- Mental health resources
- School safety plans or policies
- Health care providers’ duty to warn about potential violent offenses
- Measures encouraging the safe storage of firearms, which do not include the creation of penalties for failing to safely store firearms.
Most alarmingly, Lee wants lawmakers to consider a so-called “red flag” bill, “temporary mental health orders of protection.” Also referred to as “Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” the tools allow the revocation of Second Amendment rights to individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others.
Lee’s proclamation asserts such protection orders must be initiated by law enforcement, must require a due process hearing, and require the individual to undergo an assessment for suicidal or homicidal ideation. Law enforcement would also be required to prove the order is necessary with clear and convincing evidence and that any order be reevaluated at least every 180 days.
“Tennessee will be a safer state as a result of the efforts of the legislation and the legislators who are engaged in the process of this special session on public safety,” Lee said last week.
More than two dozen state lawmakers have voiced opposition to the protective orders, including House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland), Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile (R-Gallatin), Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), and Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager (R-Kingston).
The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition and country music artist John Rich have both objected to the legislation and the August 21 special session.
“The Governor of TN is trying to strong arm Representatives to vote for a ‘rebranded’ Red Flag Law in our state,” Rich wrote in June. “Can you believe that? Just another RINO in sheep’s clothing. This attempt at disarming Tennesseans will fail, I promise you. Share your thoughts and tag: #RedFlagDown”
The Governor of TN is trying to strong arm Representatives to vote for a “rebranded” Red Flag Law in our state. Can you believe that? Just another RINO in sheep’s clothing. This attempt at disarming Tennesseans will fail, I promise you. Share your thoughts and tag: #RedFlagDown
— John Rich🇺🇸 (@johnrich) June 13, 2023
Sexton recently told the Tennessee Firearms Association that he doesn’t think a risk protection order bill would make it out of committee.
Gun-control groups and liberal activists are preparing to descend on Nashville during the week of the special session, looking to turn a national public spotlight on their efforts to severely limit gun rights. Some are concerned about radical left demonstrations devolving into violence.
The Faith and Freedom Coalition wrote to Lee earlier this summer, asking that the governor cancel the special session and wait until January’s regular session to consider new legislation.
“As you and the public are aware, that heinous act of the murder 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 group wrote in June.
The governor’s proclamation also called for legislation to address human trafficking.
The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition sent a statement to The Tennessee Star strongly supporting that aspect of Lee’s special-called session:
The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition’s primary policy and legislative mission is the eradication of the evil of modern-day slavery that is child and human trafficking.
In short, we fight FOR the life and liberty of all those affected by this scourge. That means children, women, and even men.
As we’ve noted before, while noting certain areas of disagreement on certain other issues, we’ve had very productive meetings with Governor Lee and his staff on this issue, making a mutual commitment to work together in the furtherance of destroying child and human trafficking.
On this point, Governor Lee and his staff could not have been truer to their word and have included in both the call and list of administration legislative priorities an important step in our mutual quest to eradicate child and human trafficking.
We very much appreciate Governor Lee’s efforts in the areas of child and human trafficking, and we look forward to continuing to working with him in the future to stop this scourge.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Bill Lee. Background Photo “Tennessee State Senate Chamber” by Antony-22. CC BY-SA 4.0
Lee is a bigger joke than Newsom.
There once was a time that any law if in direct conflict to the Constitution was ruled Null&Void by said Constitution.
However, that very important Document is no longer taught by the CPUSA.
Bill might wish to read and study the papers, laws and Constitutional Rights that bind all Americans together.
Just because he wrote this proclamation doesn’t mean this is what will come out of the session or that this is truly what he proposes. I wouldn’t trust him or the TN assembly as far as I could throw them.