Tennessee Senate Republicans, apparently at urging of Bill Lee's administration, vote to kill REAL Constitutional Carry on April 6, 2022 and break a promise doing it
The Senate Judiciary “killed” the 2022 REAL constitutional carry bill (HB2524/SB2866)
today by sending it to “summer study”. That much we know. We also
know that this is EXACTLY what Governor Bill Lee, his Commissioner in
the Department of Safety, Jeff Long (a former sheriff), and the
Department of Safety’s taxpayer funded spokesperson had wanted – kill
the bill.
But there may be more to this story.
We have heard and are trying to confirm the sources that inform us that a House Republican had a bill
that was to be voted for on the House Floor on Monday, April 4, 2022.
This Republican was approached by a member (perhaps more than one) of
House Republican leadership and asked to delay the hearing on the bill
until after April 7 because some House Republicans did not want to have a
recorded vote on the bill before the qualifying deadline (April 7) for
state races for legislators. The House Republican was willing to delay
the floor vote on the bill as requested but in exchange the legislator
wanted a promise from both Senate and House leadership that BOTH HB2524
and SB2866 would be moved forward to full floor votes this year.
Apparently,
the promise was then in fact made that if this House Republican would
delay the bill in question until after April 7, then the House AND
Senate leadership were promising that the REAL Constitutional Carry bill
(HB2524,SB2866) would be guaranteed to receive floor votes in both the
House and the Senate this year. Apparently, the terms of the deal were
confirmed and the House member did agree to delay the bill from Monday’s
calendar. That delay is confirmed here.
The
Senate version of HB2524, SB2866, was scheduled for Senate Judiciary on
April 6, 2022. The terms of the promise were discussed and confirmed
with at least most Senate republicans on that committee. Yet, when the
bill came up only 2 Senate Republicans – Kerry Roberts and Dawn White –
supported SB2866. ALL of the other Republicans – Mike Bell, Paul Rose,
Jon Lundberg, John Stevens and Todd Gardenhire voted “yes” on a motion
by Todd Gardenhire to put the bill in “summer study” which effectively
killed the bill. (Note, they did the exact same thing to the
anti-pornography bill relative to school textbooks – see story – also on April 6)
Again, we are trying to confirm these details but we have confirmed the votes and the result – those are on the state’s video and website for these bills.
So
what should be done when Republican leadership in the Legislature makes
a promise, particularly to a member of the majority party, and breaks
it? Well, one might think of resurrecting the practice of dueling, but
there is not enough time or potentially ammo.
Another option lies
in the hands of Speaker Cameron Sexton and other House and Senate
leaders. If its accurate that the promise was made and clearly broken,
then perhaps the House Republicans should demand that their member’s
reliance on leaderships’ promises be honored. But how?
Well,
there are certainly lots of options. One option would be to slow the
legislative rush to adjourn in an election year and demand that the
Senate honor the promise by using the Senate rule on “recalls” to recall
the bill from summer study directly to the Senate floor for the
promised vote. Of course, if the Senate leadership had any real honor and that
promise was in fact made, then Senate leadership should do that
immediately on its own without there even being a request made by
Speaker Sexton or other House members. But if the Senate leadership
shirks this off by saying its ok to fraudulently induce a member to roll
a bill to a later date, then certainly Speaker Sexton (who likely will
want to run for governor in 2026) could consider several options to
essentially tell the Senate to “act with integrity and honor the promise
now – this year – right now” or X or Y will be the result.
So, let’s see whether the promise was in fact made and, if so, more importantly what will be done to enforce the promise.
Oh,
and don’t let it be forgotten that Bill Lee and his administration made
it clear that they did not want REAL constitutional carry in Tennessee.
Bill Lee, as governor, NEVER spoke out this year in favor of REAL
Constitutional Carry. In fact, the commissioner that he appointed to
the Department of Safety, Jeff Long, testified in the House committee
hearing trying to kill the bill. Taxpayer funded staff attorneys in the
Department of Safety testified in committee hearings and “lobbied”
legislators to kill the bill. There is plenty of evidence that the
Governor and his administration (whose constitutional duty is to enforce
the law) were actively trying to pressure the elected legislators to
disregard their oaths and stewardship duties to protect our
constitutional rights and instead do what “the state” or “law
enforcement” felt was best … for the government’s interests.
But what can the voters do?
Well, oddly enough, also on April 6 a state court ruled
that the Republicans in the legislature violated the state constitution
when they established new senate districts this year. The court gave
the legislature some time, a short window, to abide by the
constitutional requirements (keep in mind, they have been in control 12
years and have refused to abide by the 2nd Amendment so far!) or the
court would establish the new districts. Of significance here, as part
of that ruling, the court extended the qualifying deadline for senate
rates from April 7, 2022 to May 5, 2022.
That means that there
is new, extended opportunity for primary, independent and even Democrat
challengers to qualify to run against these Republican senators who are
up this year. The ones that need challengers (if they are running) are
Paul Rose, Jon Lundberg, John Stevens and Todd Gardenhire. Sen. Mike
Bell, the Senate Judiciary chair, has announced he is retiring from the
legislature and “rumor has it” he is seeking a job in the Bill Lee
administration. Other senators who may need challengers are whoever was
involved with making the alleged promise and then refusing to honor it –
but we are still trying to confirm who they are. For good measure
based on this actions on 2nd Amendment issues over the last 4 years, we
might also at Lt. Gov. Randy McNally to that list.
TFALAC Annual Event
Finally,
the TFALAC (TFA’s political action committee) has set its annual BBQ
lunch and auction for Saturday, September 3, 2022 at the Farm Bureau
Expo Center in Wilson county, Tennessee. Please sign up as sponsors, vendors or purchase your tables and tickets. |
