November 5, 2024
Election Day 2024 - What it means for Tennessee's Second Amendment Supporters.
On November 5, 2024, the nation endures yet another presidential election. Neither side is assured of a win and no voter is assured that their votes will not be diluted at some level by illegal voting, fraud or tampering. Yet, November 6, 2024, will soon be here and we will all have to deal with the ultimately results of the election.
For Tennesseans, there are some who approach state level elections as if Tennessee is a great state for 2nd Amendment supporters. Some believe that because there is a Governor who claims to be a Republican and there is a super majority of Legislators who claim to be Republicans. They in fact might be as the norms for the use of that term have changed over time ... but there are not a majority of constitutional conservatives.
For 15 years now we have existed in Tennessee under the control of Governors who identify as Republicans. We have existed with a Legislature operating under the control of selected leadership that identify as Republicans. But are they? Perhaps. But they are not constitutional conservatives.
For 15 years, Tennessee's Second Amendment advocates and various (not all) national groups that claim to be 2nd Amendment advocates have pushed for true constitutional carry, the elimination of gun free zones, civil and criminal immunity in self-defense situations, the right to use necessary force to defend against robbers and looters, and laws that allow for the full restoration of basic human rights. Have these individuals who identify themselves as Republicans delivered. Well, they collectively had the votes to deliver and thus the opportunity to deliver. However, they have not delivered. They have failed to change Tennessee's laws to accomplish these enumerated goals. Instead, they have raised our state's tax revenue (more than doubled since 2010) and they have ignored our constitutionally protected rights as if they were nothing more than privileges that they - as legislators - had full authority to "regulate".
For these state races, most of them were decided in the August primaries and thus the November elections are merely form over substance. Some of the legislative seats will have new occupants but in general the Legislature will have the same Republican identifying leaders that it has had in prior years. Thus, absent demands from the voters, it is likely that the same stonewalling that has quashed our rights for the last 15 will continue forward for at least 2 more years. Further, the state will continue to suffer from the same appointees by the Governor in various state agencies (including the Tennessee Department of Safety and the TBI) who will themselves or have their taxpayer salaried subordinates "trot" over to the legislature to instruct the Legislature regarding the Governor's opposition to things like TRUE constitutional carry.
If you are not satisfied with that prospect, voting today will not change it. What can change it is if you personally get engaged and make demands on your elected officials to honor their oaths of office and to use the authority of their offices to do what has not been done in the preceding decades - Make Tennessee a Great Second Amendment State (not again but for the 1st time in its history!)
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