GOP Senator Looks At NRA-backed Legislation As Alternative To Lee’s Red Flag Bill
Voices for Safer Tennessee hires two lobbying firms to gear up for special session.
Image Credit: Ferrell Haile / Facebook
By Sam Stockard [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
A key Republican senator is planning an alternative to Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed extreme risk protection order bill, a measure hitting a wall as the Legislature approaches an Aug. 21 special session.
Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, said Tuesday he is working with the National Rifle Association on legislation dealing with mental health in response to the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Green Hills where six people were killed, including three 9-year-olds.
Haile declined to provide specifics but said, “I think we have threaded the needle.”
Meanwhile, a statewide group with nonprofit status called Voices for a Safer Tennessee has hired two lobbying firms, Bivens & Associates and JohnsonPossKirby, to represent it in a push for stronger gun laws in the wake of the shooting.
“This is a very serious subject. It’s a politically-charged issue, and we want to make sure we have good representation” in finding a solution, said Todd Cruse, chairman of Voices for a Safer Tennessee.
The group supports an order of protection law, secure storage for firearms and background checks for all gun purchases, Cruse said.
Haile, the Senate speaker pro tem, said he can’t support Lee’s proposed extreme risk protection order or “red-flag” bill, a measure that could lead to the confiscation of weapons, because it doesn’t go far enough in providing the constitutional right of due process.
Lee floated the idea in April but couldn’t draw enough support for a House or Senate sponsor before the General Assembly adjourned the regular session.
The National Rifle Association is calling for legislation, Haile said, that will “take care of the individual, take them out of the equation, not take everybody else’s gun out of the equation that’s not involved in this, and that’s protecting the Second Amendment.”
Haile said he isn’t working directly with the NRA but is discussing the matter with the organization and “listening to their requests” or public comments.
The Associated Press reported Lee’s office accused the NRA of trying to invoke involuntary commitment laws “to round up mentally ill people and deprive them of other liberties,” based on documents obtained in a public records request. Previously, the governor had the NRA’s support in his push for a permit-less carry law.
Two weeks ago, Lee said he is talking to lawmakers and sticking with his original proposal, which contains a process for a due process hearing to confiscate weapons from people considered a risk to themselves and others.
Haile said Tuesday he doesn’t see enough support within the Republican-controlled Senate to pass it. The senator added, however, that “doing nothing is not an option.”
Other lawmakers have urged the governor to cancel the special session, while some appear ready to exit the session without passing anything.
The governor has said he would issue an official call for the special session closer to Aug. 21 specifying the matters to be considered. He has been lobbying lawmakers but hasn’t made much headway with Republicans.
Republican Sen. Adam Lowe of Calhoun said recently lawmakers are in the position of saving that date “on the refrigerator” without an official call.
Lowe noted it’s difficult to put together a plan without direction, and he added that some lawmakers have turned their attention to the 2024 session when their proposals can go through the regular committee system.
About the Author: Sam Stockard is a veteran Tennessee reporter and editor, having written for the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, where he served as lead editor when the paper won an award for being the state’s best Sunday newspaper two years in a row. He has led the Capitol Hill bureau for The Daily Memphian. His awards include Best Single Editorial from the Tennessee Press Association. Follow Stockard on Twitter @StockardSam
If Lee were actually concerned about safety and wasn’t just a Christian hating, violent pervert loving fascist, he’d offer legislation that keeps anyone receiving “gender affirming care” from owning a firearm. That would be sensible as they are a hugely disproportionate percentage of the perpetrators of mass shootings.
But that’s not what satan worshipping Lee is doing. No, he’s doing quite the opposite. He wants to confiscate guns from Christians and Patriots so they can’t defend themselves from his beloved violent perverts.
I SO AGREE
You’re a brainwashed idiot. I just wasted 2 min reading you. You’re a typing projectionist moron. Do you drink adrenachrone?
To all legislators and citizens. If the NRA is involved be very careful of any proposal. The NRA no longer fights for our Constitutional rights. That is why they are consulting them.
They worked with Lee on permit-less carry and it should have been Constitutional Carry.
If they are serious they should attack the root causes. The mind altering drugs are one of the main problems but that would hurt big pharma and the doctors.
There is NO alternative to Gun control. The SO- Called GOP need to get a Back bone!
How Bout This LEAVE OUR GUN RIGHTS AND 2nd AMEENDMENT ALONE DO NOT PUSH OUR GREAT STATE INTO COMMUNISM BY PLACING UNCONSTUTIONAL LAWS ON US
Amen !!! Could not have said it better myself!!
Right on Tim!
Send the message LOUD and CLEAR;
Bill Lee go back to your farm and vaccinate your cows with MRNA, since you couldn’t get all the kids in this state vaccinated with your pharmaceutical pals death drug
We don’t need more “Gun Control” laws. There are already enough laws on the books. They just have to be enforced. What we might consider is outlawing these drugs that are prescribed to emotionally/mentally disturbed people that can cause suicidal and antisocial thoughts in some people, mostly the young. Many of the perpetrators of “mass shootings” have been on these drugs. Also, unless the “Manifesto” and other information of the shooter is released, at least to the State House, then no legislation on gun control should be considered.
As for the “Red Flag”, very simply unconstitutional. There are existing laws in Tennessee that accomplish the same thing without raids, without confiscation, and with due process. Quit appeasing years Socialists. Protect the children in the same way politicians are. If you need volunteers, say so. There are a LOT of veterans that would be willing to help. In any way.