The Tennessee Legislature, a body under the complete and total
control of the leadership of the Republican caucus, is once again on the
verge of killing practically every pro Second Amendment bill that was
filed this year. As so often stated, this is in directly conflict with
the requirements of the Second Amendment, the mandates of the United
States Supreme Court, and their oaths of office. It is also obviously a
broken promise since so many of them actually represent during their
campaigns that they support the Second Amendment.
Although many of the bills that we tracked were either killed this
week or pushed down the road for likely neglect in 2026, there was
certainly some interesting events that occurred. For example, Stephen
Crump, the Executive Director of the District Attorneys Conference
testified (as did Patrick Powell, a taxpayer funded representative of
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation) against Senate Bill 1407, regarding
the use of firearms to defend real or personal property. Senator Brent
Taylor questioned Mr. Crump regarding whether a person commits a crime
under current law if they use a firearm to protect real or personal
property. Amazing, Mr. Crump
testified
that under current law that you could use deadly force to protect real
or personal property – testimony that is obviously misleading because
currently law (TCA 39-11-614) clearly provides otherwise. Mr. Crump
confuses the issue of whether a district attorney exercising discretion
would prosecute someone with the clear fact that the applicable statute
allows district attorneys who elect to do so to prosecute people for
protecting their home, lands or assets.
Support:
HJR53 (Reedy) – To amend the State Constitution, Article I, Section 26 to state, in accordance with the Second Amendment, “That the citizens of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms.”
Although this language passed the Senate in 2024, the House Republican
leadership killed it so it had to start over in 2025. The result of
that misconduct by House Republican leaders was that the voters will not
have a chance to vote on this amendment in 2026 and the soonest that we
will be allowed to vote on it would be 2030.
Oppose:
HB1093 (Speaker Sexton) – creates a new definition under Tennessee
law for a machine gun and a new Class C criminal offense. Expands the
offense for the possession of firearms but individuals with certain
prior criminal histories and expands the offense to include possession
of ammunition. Speaker Sexton, the Senate Sponsor Jack Johnson, and
the other supports of the bill have made no showing that these crimes as
sustainable under the Bruen standard set forth by the Supreme Court in
2022. Opposed for failure to demonstrate a basis for constitutional
scope under Bruen, the 2nd and 14th Amendments.
HB33 (Gillespie) – This bill would create a “presumption that a
defendant should not be released on the defendant’s personal
recognizance if the defendant is charged with an offense that involved
the use or display of a firearm or resulted in the serious bodily injury
or death of the victim.” Note that it could apply, as written, to
individuals charged with nothing more than “gun free zone” violations or
“carry with intent to go armed” violations. Whatever the sponsors’
intent, this bill goes too far.
Reviewing the bills that passed the Legislature this week, we see examples of what they apparently think are important:
SB206 (Massey) HB646 (Carringer) solved the crisis that only hunter
orange has been allowed for big game hunting. This year, the Republican
controlled Legislature added “fluorescent pink”.
SB256 (Gardenhire) HB601 (Freeman) created a means for district
attorneys or those with convictions to seek post-convicted relief
alleging actual innocence based on new evidence that was not known at
the time of the conviction.
