On February 21, 2023, HB1005 by Rep. Rusty Grills was presented in the House Civil Practices Subcommittee but was actually presented at that time by Rep. Chris Todd. 

When it was presented, Elizabeth Stroeker, who spoke as an attorney on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Safety and the Governor, referred to the bill as "true" constitutional carry.   She then proceeded to present several objections that she said the Department of Safety had with the bill.  Her first issue, it was later determined, had to be withdrawn because she misread the bill.  The second issue had to do with the proposed change from a "handgun" permit to a "firearms" permit and whether that change would create confusion or require the Department of Safety to reprint the existing permits.  The third issue had to do with the elimination of permitless vehicle transport (which is not needed with "true" constitutional carry - her objection was that it would eliminate the capacity of employers to prohibit employees carrying firearms in employer provided vehicles.  Finally, she said that the main reason that the Department of Safety was opposed to the bill (this time) was because it changes the law to allow carry of firearms and not just handguns.  She did state that "we would be comfortable" with reducing the age to 18 because that is something that the state is handling through pending litigation.  (view the video on TFA's website) 

After she spoke, Col. Matt Perry stated that the Department of Safety was opposed to allowing citizens carrying longarms.  What happened thereafter is significant.

Rep. Grills asked questions of Col. Perry about his objections over longarms.  Col. Perry responded that he felt people should be able to defend themselves but not with longarms or for that matter firearms like the AR pistol. 

Rep. Todd then asked some questions of the Department of Safety representative.  He asked them to provide him with the constitutional or statutory basis on which they felt that they had the authority to come into the Legislature on behalf of the Governor to tell the Legislators what the administration thought the state's public policy should be relative to the 2nd Amendment.  That is a significant issue that too seldom gets discussed - the question of whether Governor or the administrative agencies have any authority "to come into this committee room" and oppose a bill in the legislature.  Rep Todd asserted that administrative representatives have no constitutional or statutory authority to come in the Legislature to oppose public policy decisions.  This is a critical issue that too few are addressing - the problem of public officials in the administration, who draw salaries from tax payers, who routinely come into the Legislature and oppose legislation particularly legislation dealing with constitutional issues and mandates.

Rep. Grills and Rep. Todd should be recognized and thanked for their willingness this week to challenge the tax payer funded representatives from the Governor's administration who routinely come into the Legislature - for decades now - to oppose legislation that is being considered by the Legislature which addresses fundamental constitutional rights. 

Legislative committee calendars for the week of February 27, 2023, indicate that 11 different committees are scheduled to hear bills that being tracked by TFA.

Attached to this email is a calendar report of the bills, the dates and times when they are scheduled to be heard and TFA's preliminary comments.  It is important to note that the legislature allows members to add amendments to bills, frequently that entirely rewrite the bill, prior to or even during the committee hearing.  This is how some of the worst bills "get moving" because it is very hard to monitor these amendments in time to share them with those who receive this email. 

A new feature of this report is that we were able to get the vendor to include "clickable" email addresses for committee members.  There is even a clickable "email all" so that you can in one click email all committee members.  We asked for it and we hope you use it frequently to "instruct" your elected officials.  

It is important that you understand which bills are running and that you contact not only your elected officials but those on these committees and subcommittees about these bills.

Do NOT let a legislator serving on a committee or subcommittee reject your call or email by claiming or asking if you are one of their constituents!   That be an expected response if all members of the respective house were considering the bill because it is "on the floor" but when these individual legislators serve on committees and subcommittees - often with perhaps just a handful of members, they are at that time representing all interested Tennesseans!   If a committee member tries to respond by raising the "constituent" issue, please respond by insisting that for committee hearings all Tennesseans are the relevant constituent pool - and copy that email to the appropriate speaker of the House or Senate because that committee member might need a civics lesson.

Finally, as these bills start to move forward in the Tennessee Legislature, it is important for 2nd Amendment advocates in and even those who live outside of Tennessee to let the Legislators know that they are demanding that all infringements on the rights protected by the 2nd and 14th Amendment be removed this year. To do that, it is critical to let your voice be heard and TFA has provided this advocacy tool to help in that regard. Use it to contact your legislators – particularly since you are able to edit the message to express your demands in your own words.

If you are aware of other bills that you think TFA should consider tracking, please let us know soon.