Gov. Lee Commended By Biden For Calling On TN Legislature To Pass Red Flag Laws, Senator John Stevens Rumored To Have Been Given The Task

Image Credit: Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook & capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

Earlier this week, in a statement, President Joe Biden commended Governor Bill Lee for his call on the Tennessee State Legislature to create and pass “Red Flag Laws” or sometimes also referred to as ERPO (Extreme Order of Protection) Laws. 

As previously reported by The Tennessee Conservative, comments were leaked from state Senator Jack Johnson referring to the latter in order to “rebrand” red flag laws in order to get them passed. The assumed intent would be to call them “ERPO laws” so there will not be enough awareness by Tennesseans to engender push back. 

President Biden praised Governor Lee by stating, “I commend Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for signing an Executive Order to expand background checks and calling on the Tennessee statehouse to pass a red flag law. I hope more Republican officials will follow suit and take action.” 

According to sources inside the state capitol, the task to create the legislation that will function as a red flag law, has been given to Senator John Stevens (R-D24-Huntingdon), whose district encompasses Benton, Carroll, Gibson, Henry, Houston, Obion, Stewart and Weakley Counties.    

The Tennessee Conservative reached out to Senator Steven’s office, as well as all of the House representatives that represent all the above-mentioned counties, and received no response from the legislators on the issue upon publication of this article.

Those Representatives include: Tandy Darby (R-D76-Greenfield), Representative Brock Martin (R-D79-Huntingdon), Representative Chris Hurt (R-D82-Halls), Representative Rusty Grills (R-D77-Newbern), and Representative Jay Reedy (R-D74-Erin).

Additionally, we reached out to the TNGOP SEC members who represent Senator Stevens’ district (District 24), for their reaction to the information. These SEC members include Ryan Ellegood and Tess Robbins. We only received a response from Robbins, who is the Henry County Republican Party Chair. 

Robbins said, “Fundamentally, so-called “red flag laws” not only do not work, they are in violation of the fundamental constitutional protection of due process guarantees as not even a hearing is required in order for a single decision-maker to deny an accused citizen their right to keep and bear arms.  The way such laws work, anyone with a grudge (e.g., ex-spouse, disgruntled neighbor, anti-freedom activists) can accuse anyone else of being a danger to themselves and/or others without any proof.  The accused is presumed guilty and does not even have the chance to maintain their innocence in a court of law.”

Her statement continued, “The reality is red flag laws continue to fail abysmally from their stated purpose tragedy after tragedy after tragedy.  For example, Colorado’s red flag law did not stop the Club Q shooter, Illinois’ red flag laws do nothing to stop the murders in Chicago, and on the list goes.

Like almost all gun-control laws, red flag laws tend to punish law-abiding citizens and further embolden those who would do us harm.  The real outcome of red flag laws is to make law-abiding citizens more and more defenseless and in fear of offending those who can unjustly take away their God-given rights.

Meanwhile, effective solutions that address the root cause of the problem “red flag laws” are alleged to resolve are ignored.  The institutionally encouraged mental health and moral depravity crises engulfing our nation have far more to do with why bad people harm others, and those same bad people can and do harm others with weapons other than firearms.  Are we also going to blame and ban the vehicles they drive into crowds, or the knives, or the clubs, or the poison, etc.?  If you want to stop crime, you have to stop blaming inanimate objects and fix the hearts and minds of the criminals.” 

Interestingly, The Tennessee Conservative recently received an email from a reader, passing along Governor Lee’s response to them when they contacted him with their concerns about Red Flag laws back in 2018. Our reader received this response: 

“Hey (Name), thanks for the question. Here is my take on the second amendment: This is common sense: law abiding citizens should not be punished for the actions of criminals. Every time there’s a tragedy, the first thing that happens is that politicians and the media politicize the issue and try to turn the conversation away from real solutions and into a discussion on how take away our constitutional rights. It’s the wrong conversation. We’ve always had guns. We haven’t always had mass shootings. We need to look behind the gun and try to get to root causes, instead of taking away the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. There’s a lot of political pressure to “do something.” But every one of these cases we have the case of someone who is breaking multiple laws. Adding a new law won’t solve the problem. Arming teachers We protect our banks with guns, we protect our judges, we even protect our governor. But we leave our children defenseless in gun-free zones. We should absolutely allow a qualified and vetted teacher to make the choice to be a part of the solution. Constitutional Carry You shouldn’t have to pay a fee to exercise your constitutional rights. I’d work with the legislature on any proposal where we can expand your constitutional rights, and I’ll sign legislation to make it happen. Campus Carry Under our current laws a 21-year-old worker at the university can carry a weapon, but a 28-year-old veteran attending that same university on the GI bill cannot. Picking and choosing who gets to have rights based on their status as a student is not the way the constitution is supposed to work. “Assault weapon” bans It doesn’t matter the type of gun, it matters who is holding the gun. As governor, I’ll oppose any attempt to ban an entire of weapons, especially recent proposals from gun control advocates that would do nothing to reduce gun crime”. 

This sounds more like the governor that Tennessee elected back in 2018, rather than the governor we have now, who is receiving praise from a Democrat president, and appears determined to strip Tennesseans of their 2^nd Amendment rights. 

We will keep our readers informed of any new developments in this story as it progresses.

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.