Vanderbilt Researchers Granted NIH Funds to Study Children’s Mental Health

Researchers at Vanderbilt University have been granted $3.2 million from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to research children’s mental health, according to the university. 

“A four-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will support the research of Carolyn Heinrich, University Distinguished Professor of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and Melinda Buntin, University Distinguished Professor of Health Policy, into how school-based health interventions affect children’s mental health and education outcomes,” Vanderbilt announced last month. “Schools are serving children with ever-increasing mental health needs, which were amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. public schools serve as the primary entry point to mental health services for children, and school-based health centers, or SBHCs, increasingly are a ‘medical home’ for vulnerable children.”

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TN Faith & Freedom Coalition Calls on Gov. Lee to Cancel Special Session on Gun Control ‘In the Interest of Public Safety’ Due to Danger from Far Left Activists

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.

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Connecticut Gov. Lamont Signs Gun Control Legislation

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has signed a sweeping gun control law that bans open carry of firearms and further tightens the state’s existing restrictions on military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The Democratic-led measure, signed by Lamont on Tuesday, limits handgun purchases to three per month, raises the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle from 18 to 21 and regulates the sale of body armor to civilians, among other provisions.

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Gavin Newsom Proposes 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to Restrict Gun Rights

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday said he is proposing the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which will restrict gun rights. 

The proposed amendment would raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21, implement universal background checks, create what Newsom called a “reasonable waiting period for gun purchases” and ban civilians from buying so-called “assault weapons,” according to the governor’s announcement on Twitter.

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Poll: Tennesseans Want Dangerous People Removed from Community Instead of More Gun Laws

According to a poll published by co/efficient, the vast majority of Tennesseans would prefer that dangerous people are removed from society, rather than removing guns from the hands of potentially dangerous people. 

“In the poll, Tennessee voters dramatically retreat from their soft support of proposed Red Flag Laws and do not see this as the solution to their safety concerns when informed that Red Flag Laws merely take guns away from dangerous individuals but do nothing to prevent them from causing harm by some other means. Red Flag Law support erodes even further when informed that there are existing laws to take threatening individuals out of the community right now,” the poll said. “Tennesseans largely support recently passed legislation that puts police officers in schools and believe enforcing the current laws on the books is an effective solution to keeping their families, communities, and state safe.”

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Connecticut Lawmakers Advance Gun Control Measure

Connecticut lawmakers are advancing a wide-ranging package of gun control measures billed as the most significant changes since the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre.

The Democratic-led proposal, approved by the state House of Representatives Thursday on a largely party-line vote of 96-51, calls for prohibiting the open carry of firearms and further tightening the state’s existing restrictions on military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. 

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Nashville City Council to Hold Gun Violence Hearings in the Wake of Covenant School Massacre

More than two months after 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale shot and killed three children and three staff members at the Covenant Presbyterian School, Nashville’s Metropolitan Council is planning to hold hearings on gun violence as a “public health issue.” 

The Public Health and Safety Committee will conduct the first special meeting on gun safety, co-hosted with Education Committee Chair Zulfat Suara, on June 14, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 pm.

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After Covenant Shooting, Gov. Lee Met with Far-Left State Senator Who Just Introduced 17 Gun Control Bills

According to State Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville), also a candidate for mayor of Nashville, Gov. Bill Lee (R) met with Campbell before he announced his August special session of the General Assembly, which will focus on gun control.

“I met with the Governor prior to his announcement of the special session but have not heard from him about this bill package,” Campbell told The Tennessee Star Friday. “My office would welcome the opportunity.”

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ICE Offers No Comment on Rioters Who Plan to Disable Vehicles at Nashville Office During August Special Session

After The Tennessee Star last week reported that far-left agitators plan to disable U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) vehicles while violently rioting during August’s special session of the legislature, The Star reached out to ICE to see if the law enforcement entity had any plans to quell the potential rioters. 

After multiple comment requests and a promise to provide a statement, the agency did not respond to The Star’s inquiry.

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Exclusive: Far-Left Agitators Planning to ‘Bird Dog’ Republican Officials During August Special Session

In secretly recorded audio files from a Saturday planning session among far-leftists in Nashville obtained by The Tennessee Star, left-wing agitators say they plan to “bird dog” Republican lawmakers during August’s special session of the General Assembly. 

Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood held a training session for activists in Nashville, which was run by Julie Edwards, the organization’s advocacy & organizing manager, along with the organization’s Executive Director Francie Hunt. 

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Exclusive: Radical Leftists Will Have Armed Security for August Special Session ‘Protests’

In secret audio obtained by The Tennessee Star, radical leftists who plan to “protest” the upcoming August special session of the General Assembly say they have armed security at the ready. 

“Also, like there are groups in Nashville who do this – keep in mind – who like, if at any point you need armed security at a protest, there are people who we trust as a community to show up and do that,” said an organizer of the Saturday meeting. 

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Gov. Lee’s Office Won’t Confirm Whether He Met with State Rep. Justin Jones on Gun Control

Gov. Bill Lee’s office did not respond to The Tennessee Star’s Monday inquiries seeking clarification on whether Lee met with Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and a group of students to discuss gun control last week. 

Friday, the far-left Tennessee Holler posted a video to Twitter claiming that he was marching to Lee’s office with students to stress the urgency of implementing gun control measures during the upcoming August special legislative session. 

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Gov. Lee Signs School Safety Bill into Law Ahead of Special Gun Control Session

Ahead of August’s special session wherein Gov. Bill Lee (R) is expect to push for “Order of Protection” (red flag) laws, the governor has signed into law a bill that provides financial resources for school security measures. 

Namely, HB 0322 allocates $30 million for the state to hire homeland security agents in each county to serve both public and private schools. The new law also provides $140 million for one full-time, armed School Resource Officer (SRO) for every public school in the state. 

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Wisconsin’s Largest Business Advocate Applauds Republicans’ Removal of Hundreds of Governor Tony Evers’ Proposals from Budget

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee this week jettisoned 545 of liberal Governor Tony Evers’ budget proposals, packed with higher taxes on businesses and individuals and growing government initiatives.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business advocate, is applauding the Republican-controlled budget-writing committee for trimming Evers’ bigger government budget plan. 

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Special Session Postponed After Pushback to Lee’s ‘Red Flag’ Proposals

Governor Bill Lee said Saturday that the special session he called for on April 21 in the wake of the Covenant Presbyterian School shooting to push through a package of gun control measures dubbed “red flag laws” will likely convene after the July 4th holiday.

“There is broad agreement that dangerous, unstable individuals who intend to harm themselves or others should not have access to weapons,” he said in his original April statement.

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Commentary: Bill Lee’s Red Flag Law Proposal Helps the Progressive Movement Nationally

by John Harris   Governor Bill Lee called on the Tennessee Legislature to pass a “Red Flag” law on April 11, 2023 just shortly after three Tennessee Democrat House members made a similar call on the House floor and led a disruptive gun control rally with a bullhorn directly from the front podium on the House floor.  The Democrat House members’ gun control rally brought national attention, unfavorable attention, to Tennessee and the Tennessee House of Representatives. Governor Lee has willfully joined the Democrats in an open call for gun control.  He has intentionally called for a “Red Flag” law although he referred to it as a “temporary mental health order of protection” because perhaps, as Senator Jack Johnson is recently recorded as stating, “Red Flag” laws have to be “rebranded” in order to pass (or did Sen. Johnson mean to say ‘in order to mislead the voters’?). Following Governor Lee’s call for a Red Flag law, Democrat House Member Justin Jones (who is one of those who was expelled from the House for his disruption of House proceedings and then almost immediately reinstated) has been making national news by continuing to call for gun control at the same time that Governor Lee is doing…

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Minnesota House Passes Red-Flag, Universal Background Check Proposals

The Minnesota House passed an omnibus judiciary and public safety bill Wednesday that contains two controversial gun-control measures.

The Senate version of the omnibus bill, which passed earlier this month, doesn’t include the gun-control proposals and the differences between the two bills will have to be sorted out in a conference committee in the coming days, Session Daily reported.

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Commentary: Tennessee Democrat Proposal for a Red Flag Law

On April 20, 2023, Tennessee Firearms Association received a “leaked” draft of a Red Flag law which information indicates is likely being offered by Tennessee Democrats since it seeks to amend House Bill 1233 Senate Bill 1029 which has Democrat sponsors in the House and Senate. Of particular concern, however, is that House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby). Since a high ranking House Republican leader is a sponsor on the bill, it must be considered whether this is a second attempt by Governor Bill Lee to get a Red Flag law to the floor.

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Famous Singers Join Chorus of Calls for Gun Control After Gov. Lee Caves on Red Flag Laws

Two notable recording artists have joined a chorus of calls for the state of Tennessee to implement stricter gun control measures. 

“We’re Nashvillians. We’re also moms,” Sheryl Crow told News Channel 5. “And I think what happened at Covenant has touched everyone, including Gov. Lee on a very deep and personal level. We just want to see something that we can all agree on.”

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State Rep. Justin Jones Attempts to Bring Child-Sized Casket into Capitol Chamber as Gun Control Prop

In yet another protest in favor of gun control, recently embattled State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) attempted to bring a child-sized casket into the Tennessee House Chamber, before he was forced to drop the prop. 

“The rally made it inside the Capitol going through security,” News Channel 5’s Kelsey Gibbs reported. “Rep. Justin Jones and Bishop Barber are trying to enter the chamber with a casket. The sergeant of arms went to check and tells them they can’t bring the casket inside the House chamber.”

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Republican Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Arm Wisconsin School Employees

Two Wisconsin lawmakers, looking to stop school shooters before they have a chance to take more innocent lives, have introduced a bill that would allow teachers and staff members to carry firearms on school grounds.

State Representatives Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) and Cory Tomczyk (R-Mosinee) recently introduced a bill that would create an exception to the state’s prohibition on guns at schools.

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Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Wows NRA Crowd in Second Amendment Defense

Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said he would shut down a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives  (ATF) that is “beyond repair” and expand Second Amendment rights if he is elected president. 

The political outsider vying for the Republican Party’s nomination laid out his gun rights agenda in a speech Friday to the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis. 

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Leftist Lawmakers Raising Money Off of Their Expulsions from the Tennessee House

Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and Justin Pearson (D-Memphis) are looking to cash in on their expulsion battles — and their friends on the far-left are, too.

Jones and Pearson, who were expelled last week from the Republican-led House of Representatives, are back in their seats after each was reinstated this week — Jones on Monday, Pearson on Wednesday. They were removed from their positions after being accused of inciting a riot on the House floor amid a chaotic protest demanding gun control laws. State Representative Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), who helped lead the protest, survived expulsion by one vote.

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AG Ellison Implores Minnesota State Republican Legislators to Support Gun Control Bills

In an effort to whip up more support from legislators in his own party — and perhaps a vote or two from across the political aisle — Attorney General Keith Ellison held a press conference Tuesday imploring bipartisan support for two controversial gun restriction bills with just six weeks left in the session.

While a number of gun control bills have been introduced at the Capitol in 2023, Democrats have narrowed their focus in the last few weeks on two: universal background checks and Extreme Risk Prevention Order (ERPO) legislation.

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Out-of-State Dark Money Funded Anti-Gun Protestors at Tennessee Capitol Riot

Make no mistake, the “mostly peaceful” riots at the Tennessee Capitol last week under the guise of “gun safety” activism were all about power — organized and led by some well-heeled Generation Z groups with a pipeline to the Democrat-controlled White House.

Gun control extremists March For Our Lives and Gen-Z For Change hit social media to again recruit their young soldiers following the March 27 mass murders of three children and three adult staff members at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville. Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a deranged 28-year-old who reportedly identified as a transgender male, stormed into the private school and mercilessly shot and killed her victims before police officers fatally shot Hale.

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Pennsylvania Voters Spurn ‘Scranton Joe’ in Favor of Trump, DeSantis, Poll Shows

More Pennsylvania voters want former President Donald Trump or Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for President than President Joe Biden, despite the fact he has the affectionate nickname “Scranton Joe” after his birth town in the state, according to a new poll.

The Commonwealth Foundation, a group promoting free markets in Pennsylvania, found in a survey last week that 34 percent of registered voters in the state want Trump to run for President in 2024, followed by 26 percent who want DeSantis to run. Biden, however, earned 24 percent in the poll that allowed respondents to select all candidates that they want to see run. Close behind Biden is Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at 20 percent. Out of the four top potential candidates, only Trump has formally declared his presidential campaign for 2024.

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Connecticut Lawmakers Advancing Lamont’s Gun Control Bills

Connecticut lawmakers are advancing Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to close “loopholes” in the state’s gun control laws in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide.

The legislation, which is teed up for a vote in the state Legislature, would tighten the state’s ban on “ghost” guns, increase the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21, prohibit open carry in public, ban the bulk purchase of handguns and expand the state’s restriction on large-capacity firearm magazines, among other changes.

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Nashville Students Walk Out for Anti-Gun Protest

Monday marked another day of anti-gun protests in Nashville, as hundreds of Metro Nashville Public School (MNPS) students walked out of school and marched to the Tennessee State Capitol demanding gun control. 

“HUNDREDS of students, activists, and community members in Nashville walked out of school this morning with us and are walking to the state Capital to DEMAND action against gun violence,” said the anti-gun group March For Our Lives on Twitter, attaching a video of some of the student protestors. 

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MNPS and Left-Wing New York-Based Group Politicize Nashville Shootings, Hold Separate Anti-Gun Rallies of High School Students on Monday at State Capitol and Local Schools

Metro Nashville Public Schools and March For Our Lives (MFOL), the anti-gun, New York City-based political action advocacy organization, are politicizing the March 27 Covenant Presbyterian School shootings by encouraging Nashville and Middle Tennessee high school students to participate in two separate anti-gun rallies on Monday.

As The Tennessee Star reported on March 27, three children and three adults were killed by 28-year-old former student Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as transgender, when she forced her way into the school.

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Commentary: Red Flag Laws Are Not Designed for Anything But Gun Control

Following practically every mass public shooting, the gun control advocates call for “reasonable” responses to “gun violence”. One of the present favorite alleged solutions of the those who seek to ban guns in society is the incrementalism that includes the opportunity to leverage a tragedy by calling for “Red Flag” laws.

A “Red Flag” law is nothing more than a gun confiscation order. That is its failure as a solution to violence. But, that is the very reason why gun abolitionists proffer it at every opportunity.

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Metro Nashville Public Schools Offers No Details on Student, Parent Involvement in Capitol Riot

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) did not return a Friday comment request from The Tennessee Star seeking further clarifications about students and parents who were reportedly involved in Thursday’s protest-turned-riot at the Tennessee Capitol building.

WTVF reported Thursday that thousands of parents and students gathered at the Capitol to protest in favor of gun control.

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Nashville District Attorney’s Office Says No Criminal Complaints Filed Against Tennessee Capitol Rioters

The office of Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk said no state or local criminal investigations are pending stemming from Thursday’s riot at the Tennessee State Capitol.

“I just checked with the folks here,” said Steve Hayslip, a Nashville District Attorney General’s spokesman. “No state or local law enforcement agency has brought any criminal complaint to this office for review.”

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Minnesota Gov. Walz, DFL Legislators Express Confidence on Gun Control Bills, Despite Slim Majority

Will a publicity push this week from Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and former congresswoman turned gun control activist Gabby Giffords be enough to ensure that all 34 Democrats in the Minnesota Senate vote to pass a pair of high-profile and politically polarizing gun restriction bills on the floor this session?

Walz expressed optimism at a press conference Thursday that SF1116 and SF1117 will get the votes required from his DFL colleagues in the Senate that would then almost assuredly send both bills to his desk for signatures.

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State Troopers Foil Riot of Left-Wing Mob at Tennessee Capitol

A riot at the Tennessee State Capitol was stopped by state troopers Thursday as State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and at least two other far-left Democrat state representatives encouraged a crowd of more than a thousand protesters to breach the Tennessee House of Representatives chamber floor during a gun control demonstration.

Tennessee State Troopers foiled the breach, as protesters attempted to enter the chamber from the gallery above and the ground floor.

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Pennsylvania Democrat Proposes Waiting Periods for Acquiring Guns

A Pennsylvania state senator this week announced she is reintroducing legislation to force gun buyers to undergo three-day waiting periods before they take possession of their firearms. 

Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown) wrote in a memorandum describing her bill that she believes the measure could reduce both violent crime and suicides. She stated that more than 60 percent of gun deaths are intentionally self-inflicted and said research has shown that many suicide survivors thought about taking the actions they did for less than a 24-hour period. 

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