Following the United States Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in
New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen in
which it struck down a New York handgun permit law as violating the
Second Amendment, some may have thought that finally Tennessee would
eradicate 2nd Amendment and civil rights infringements on the rights of
the people to keep and bear arms. That is what should have happened.
But by paying close attention to Governor Lee’s administration over the
last 4 years and the conduct of the majority of Republicans (not to
mention almost all Democrats) in the Legislature, that would have been a
very stupid bet to take.
Certainly, there are several state
Legislators who have been and are continuing to repeal all of the
existing statutory and regulatory infringements prohibited by the Second
Amendment. Indeed, there are several legislators who in the past have
been ardent conspirators in the oppression of 2nd Amendment rights but
who are at least talking post-
Bruen about the need to repeal these infringements.
But there are too many in the Legislature like
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and others who are clearly standing as a continual
roadblock
to efforts to bring Tennessee in conformity with the Second and
Fourteenth Amendments. The efforts of those legislators who would
continue to deny your rights, are fully supported by Bill Lee’s
administration as well as representatives of the Tennessee Sheriffs
Association, the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, and a gun
control advocacy group commonly known as
Moms Demand Action.
A representative for Bill Lee, Elizabeth Stroecker, who is a taxpayer
funded attorney the Legislative and Policy Director for the Tennessee
Department of Safety, frequently
injects herself as a witness in committee hearings
(and presumably in meetings with individual legislators) to tell the
legislative policy makers that the administration opposes almost all
efforts to remove infringements. The problem has become so oppressive
that
Rep. Chris Todd asked her on February 21, 2023,
what constitutional or statutory authority she had to come into the
committee hearings to oppose the policy consideration of bills.
On February 21, 2023,
Rep. Rusty Grills challenged Col. Matt Perry
from the Tennessee Department of Safety who appeared in the committee
to oppose the determination by the Legislature of whether the
constitution now requires that citizens be allowed to carry longarms.
Rep. Grills was clearly concerned that the administration
representatives were opposing the right of citizens to carry a longarm,
such as an AR15, when it is already allowed in Tennessee for people to
carry the AR pistols. Col. Perry asserted in response that he did not
think individuals should be able to carry either one.
On March 8, 2023, Commissioner David Raush of the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation, accompanied by Commissioner Jeff Long from the Tennessee
Department of Safety to oppose Rep. Grill’s HB1005 that would allow 18
and up to get permits and which would change the handgun permits to
firearms permits. In a
lengthy discussion with Rep. Gino Bulso,
these taxpayer funded administration officials argued that Bill Lee’s
administration continues to oppose the idea that the 2nd Amendment
applies equally to handguns and longarms.
TFA's Richard Archie reviews why the conduct of the Lee Administration officials is in conflict with the requirements of the Second Amendment.
One conclusion
painfully clear from the video testimony of representatives from Bill
Lee’s administration is that they want to continue to impose
restrictions on the rights of individuals to fully exercise those rights
in Tennessee.
The willingness of these taxpayer funded administration employees to
oppose your Second Amendment rights is well demonstrated by his warm
embrace of the gun control advocates from Moms Demand Action who appear
to fully applaud his stonewalling.
