GOP Leaders Laud Court Ruling Overturning Tennessee’s “Intent To Go Armed” Statute

Image Credit: Canva

The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –

After a three-judge panel ruled Tennessee’s “intent to go armed” statute in Second Amendment laws unconstitutional, local GOPs and conservative lawmakers are praising the decision and discouraging a state appeal.

Earlier this week, the Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) and Gun Owners of America announced a victory in a lawsuit against the state challenging the “parks” and “intent to go armed” provisions in Tennessee law.

These statutes criminalize carrying certain weapons in parks and recreational areas, even for self-defense, and “intent to go armed” has been hotly contested by conservatives and constitutional rights advocates for years. 

As written, the law says a person commits a criminal offense just for carrying a weapon (club or firearm) with the intent to go armed. This statute therefore makes it a crime for anyone to carry arms with an intent to do so, even in your own home. It provides law enforcement the power to stop, detain, question, or arrest individuals in possession of firearms and places presumption of guilt on the citizen who would then have to disprove an intent to go armed should they be charged.

In response to the unanimous ruling affirming the unconstitutionality of the statues, the Williamson County GOP, led by Chair Steve Hickey, has passed a resolution supporting true constitutional carry and sent a letter to Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally urging the state legislature to repeal the offending language in the intent to go armed and parks statutes.

The resolution reiterates that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land and conflicting state laws are harmful in several ways including an “unnecessary burden on our legal system”, causing confusion for the citizenry, and hampering the “efficient functioning of our law enforcement system”.

Several Republican state lawmakers have also expressed their support for the ruling like Sen. Brent Taylor who sent a letter to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti opposing a state appeal. Reps. Clay Doggett and Jody Barrett took to social media to praise the verdict, speaking in defense of the constitutional rights of citizens.

“A ridiculously unconstitutional statute that should have been overturned by our legislature and done away with long ago, but for whatever reason we haven’t been able to get that done, even with a ruby red supermajority,” Barrett said.

However, one Republican legislator holds a differing opinion, instead stating the appeal should proceed to establish a stronger legal precedent.

Rep. Chris Todd advocates that pursuing an appeal will result in a higher appellate court affirming the lower court’s decision and “by doing so, make it even stronger as a binding precedent. Such an outcome would provide greater protection for Tennesseans and serve as a reference for similar cases across the country.” 

He also thanks TN Attorney General (AG) Johnathan Skrmetti and his team for their “tireless defense of Tennesseans’ rights and excellent work on the case,” despite Skrmetti being named as a defendant on the lawsuit.

But TFA expressed concerns that should the state heed the call for an appeal, it would delay, perhaps by years, the effectiveness of the ruling and risk “that the court might reverse the ruling on technical grounds that avoided the constitutional challenge.”

This has been a long and convoluted battle as Tennessee leadership has touted the state as having “Constitutional Carry” yet preserved these broad statues which essentially nullify the point of constitutional or permitless carry. Nor is the legal fight completed as TFA notes that despite an initial victory, a ruling is typically not completely final at this stage. 

Besides a full appeal, either party can ask the court to alter or amend the ruling as summary judgement was granted to the plaintiffs. Either scenario must be initiated within 30 days, so it will be at least that long until the ruling is considered final assuming there is no response from the government defendants.

TFA anticipates this ruling, hopefully to be secure in the next month, could have expansive impacts across the state, including forming a framework on which other unconstitutional statutes can be successfully challenged, and not just those related to the Second Amendment but any which violate the protections of the rights of the citizenry under the Constitution. 

They also hope that through this case, “Tennesseans should see clearly that their rights are not always being protected by our governors, state agencies and legislators- sometimes those are the very tyrants of oppression. Tennesseans should increasingly consider the authority of the judicial branch to strike down unconstitutional actions of the other two branches as a necessary tool to restrain tyranny from the other two branches.”

Neither the governor nor the AG’s office have issued statements on the ruling at the time of this writing.

About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.