On March 27, 2023, a multi-victim shooting took place in Nashville,
Tennessee at the Covenant Church / Covenant School which involved the
murder of six individuals. On May 1, 2023, Tennessee Firearms
Association and Sheriff (retired) James Hammond filed, with the
assistance of Judicial Watch, an
open records request
with the Metropolitan Police Department to obtain copies of the
shooter’s “manifesto” and other materials that had been collected by the
Metropolitan Police Department that might be relevant to the shooter’s
motives and that would be important to efforts by Governor
Bill Lee and some
Republican Legislators to immediately push for the passage of a “Red Flag” law in Tennessee.
The open records litigation has been pending now for more than a year
in Davidson County Chancery Court with no resolution. The litigation
has however taken several curious turns that are abnormal in open
records cases. For example, the Covenant School, the Covenant Church,
an anonymous group identified as the Covenant parents have all been
allowed by the Court to intervene in the case in order to assert that
the investigative records, including the writing of the shooter, should
never, ever be made public. Several other private schools (Franklin
Road Academy, Road Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Oak Hill School,
and St. Paul Christian Academy), District Attorney Glenn Funk and a
former member of Covenant Church, Austin Davis, have all filed motions
for leave to file amicus briefs.
The Chancery Court conducted the show cause hearing starting on April
16, 2024, but has not issued any ruling since that time on the merits
of the open records petitions.
Although the Chancery Court has not made a merits decision on the
release of the records, records concerning the Covenant matter do seem
to be recently available to at least some news media sources. A
series of detailed reports over the last 3 days by the Tennessee Star make specific references to information that it has obtained and contains direct quotes from the shooter's writings.
The TFALAC Annual Event is Saturday September 7, 2024. It will be held at the Farm Bureau Expo Center in Wilson County.
This year's keynote speaker is Pete Hegseth of Fox News who is also now a Tennessean. Other speakers include Congressman Mark Green and Erich Pratt, Sr., Vice President of Gun Owners of America.
Tickets and tables are available for a limited time with "
early bird" pricing.
Sponsorships and vendor opportunities are also
available now and since these are limited are first come, first serve.
Net proceeds from the TFALAC Annual Event are used to support pro-2nd Amendment candidates for the Tennessee Legislature (which sometimes means we are supporting primary challengers to incumbents who are not working to honor their oaths to protect our rights).
