Rep. Ryan Williams (R.) who represents part of Putnam County has already filed 2 bills that could be heard in the 2024 Legislative session. These are House Bill 1599 and House Bill 1600. Both of the bills would directly impact the rights that are protected by the Second Amendment which are applicable to those in the 18 to 25 year old age bracket.

Both bills seek to rely on juvenile records, which are frequently sealed or expunged, as a basis to infringe the rights of individuals who are adults in the age bracket of 18 to 25. Both bills rely not only on juvenile criminal offense records, but also on juvenile mental health records. Both bills give the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation what appears to be expanded access to juvenile records once the individual becomes an adult.

Under the filed language of each bill, the civil rights of individuals who were at least 14 years old at the time of the offense could be used to infringe the individual’s civil rights as an adult. Indeed, such infringing consequences could be imposed for something as simple as the juvenile committing any “violation of title 39 involving the use or display of a firearm” which means that a juvenile who did nothing more than illegally possess a firearm could have her civil rights impaired until at least age 25.

These two bills appear to be consistent with the gun control agenda set by Governor Bill Lee when he insisted on the Red Flag Special Session in his August 2023 proclamation.

Constituents in Rep. William’s district should take special note of these bills and contact him directly (Nashville Office (615) 741-1875) if they have comments or questions about his direct attack on the civil rights that are protected by the Second Amendment.

Everyone should be on heightened alert as the Tennessee Legislature resumes operations in January 2024 to make sure that these elected individuals do not pursue any gun control agenda in what should be a “Red State” and not a “Red Flag State”.