Red Flag Gun Bill To Expand Mandatory Reporting Passes In Tennessee House
Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
A red flag gun bill to expand mandatory reporting laws for mental health professionals was passed on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives on Thursday by a 79-7 vote.
This will be the second time that House Bill 1625 (HB1625), sponsored by Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville-District 14), has passed on the House floor.
This legislation was passed in the House for the first time during the legislature’s special session back in August of 2023. However, the Senate chose not to act on the bill at that time as efforts were made to quickly adjourn what many deemed an “unnecessary” meeting of the General Assembly.
“Members, you’ll recognize this piece of legislation,” Rep. Zachary addressed his colleagues. “We passed this during the special session. The other chamber chose not to work that week, so we’re here again passing this through committee and now back on the House floor.”
HB1625, if made law, would expand current Tennessee code, requiring mental health professionals to report a patient to law enforcement, 988, or a local crisis response service if they determine that patient to have communicated an intent “for actual threat of bodily harm” against an individual or group of people.
Critics have brought up concerns about the fact that this legislation also provides mental health professionals with civil, criminal, and regulatory immunity given the subjective way that a mental health professional could perceive something to be a threat.
Questions have also emerged regarding privacy laws and where reported information will be stored and how it will be used.
“This will strengthen duty to warn, provide some clarity, and ensures that mental health practitioners do not have to call law enforcement when a patient makes a threat to them,” said Rep. Zachary.
One amendment to the bill was passed on the House floor. The language of the bill previously stated that a mental health professional must report if he/she “has determined or reasonably should have determined that the service recipient has the apparent ability to commit such an act.”
As amended, the language further reads “and is likely to carry out the threat unless prevented from doing so.”
With no discussion or objection House members proceeded to vote and HB1625 was passed with 79 ayes and 7 noes.
A bipartisan collection of Representatives voted in favor of the bill including: Alexander, Baum, Behn, Boyd, Bricken, Bulso, Burkhart, Butler, Camper, Capley, Carr, Carringer, Chism, Clemmons, Cochran, Crawford, Darby, Davis, Eldridge, Faison, Farmer, Freeman, Garrett, Gillespie, Glynn, Grills, Hakeem, Hale, Hardaway, Harris, Hawk, Hazlewood, Helton-Haynes, Hemmer, Hicks T, Holsclaw, Howell, Hurt, Jernigan, Johnson C, Johnson G, Keisling, Kumar, Lafferty, Lamberth, Leatherwood, Littleton, Lynn, Martin B, Martin G, McCalmon, McKenzie, Miller, Mitchell, Moon, Parkinson, Powell, Powers, Ragan, Raper, Reedy, Rudd, Rudder, Russell, Shaw, Sherrell, Slater, Stevens, Thompson, Todd, Towns, Vaughan, Vital, White, Whitson, Williams, Wright, Zachary, and Speaker Sexton.
Republican Representatives Doggett, Gant, and Haston were recorded as present and not voting.
Republican Representatives Barrett, Cepicky, Fritts, Hill, Moody, Richey, and Warner were the only ones voting against this red flag gun bill.
Legislation must pass both chambers of the legislature before it can be sent to the Governor’s desk and be signed into law.
The corresponding Senate Bill 1673 (SB1673), sponsored by Sen. Becky Massey (R-Knoxville-District 6), is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee next week.
To voice your support or opposition to SB1673, use the information below to contact committee members prior to their meeting on Wednesday, February 28th, 2024.
Rusty Crowe (R-Chair) – sen.rusty.crowe@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-2468
Ferrell Haile (R-Vice Chair) – sen.ferrell.haile@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-1999
Shane Reeves (R-2nd Vice Chair) – sen.shane.reeves@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-1066
Joey Hensley (R) – sen.joey.hensley@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-3100
Ed Jackson (R) – sen.ed.jackson@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-1810
Becky Massey (R) – sen.becky.massey@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-1648
Art Swann (R) – sen.art.swann@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-0981
Bo Watson (R) – sen.bo.watson@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-3227
Jeff Yarbro (D) – sen.jeff.yarbro@capitol.tn.gov – (615) 741-3291
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee.
You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
In 2013 New York State enacted the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act (NY SAFE Act). Among other statutes that were created, NY SAFE created a mental-health red-flag law that allows the State Office of Mental Health to report a person who voluntarily checked himself or herself into a hospital for a mental-health crisis to the FBI and have that person included in the NICS database using a “temporary detention hold” as a pretext for an involuntary admission. Under federal law an involuntary admission prohibits that person from “receiving a firearm.” The hospital’s aforementioned process is done extrajudicially and with no notice given to the patient. A civil disability is created that becomes difficult if not impossible to remove. The same thing could happen in Tennessee if red-flag laws are enacted.
Using an ex-parte court order to seize someone’s firearms or using an extrajudicial administrative process and legal obfuscation to have someone included in the NICS database violates a person’s Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. Additionally, red-flag laws will cause people to not seek treatment if they have a mental disorder for fear of losing their Second Amendment rights.
Finally, if someone wants to get a firearm badly enough then s/he will get one – just ask any felon who has one – or s//he will get a black powder firearm and conversion cylinder which are both exempt under TCA § 39-11-106 and 8 U.S.C. 921(a)(3).
Red-flag laws are a waste of time, ineffective, counterproductive and unconstitutional. The enactment of these laws must be opposed.
Update: My state representative, a Republican who I will not name, told me in writing last Tuesday that he would oppose any red flag law and yet he voted for HB 1625 which passed 79 to 7. I’ve inquired why he did so and so far I’ve not received a response.
Time for a white wash of the representation we have in Nashville. People need to vote. Take one day out of their schedule and vote.
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t mention this representatives name in this forum
Point him out. Hold him accountable.
You’re all fools for supporting these snollygosters!!
If any of your non-representing representatives were truly pro-second Amendment and the gun lobby in this state didn’t coddle them all and would mount true attack campaigns on them lying about it..
You would have true constitutional carry and better second amendment recognized rights and laws..
But they are all allowed to campaign and get elected and re-elected, standing on the soap box of the Constitution, which they all have about as much respect and love for as they do you.
The government you elect is the government you deserve.
~Thomas Jefferson
Exactly right
Very well said and quite accurate. I as a retired state employee have seen a lot of back door deals go down among politicians.This is reprehensible and a direct affront to our constitutional rights.I will be emailing my representatives and would like to use a portion of your comment in my email, if you don’t mind.
My rep., David Hawk, over here in Greene County voted for it. I will never vote for him again.
Get the word
Out
The betrayal knows no bounds.
PLEASE put committees in a copy/paste list like Karen at TN Citizens for State Sovereignty (TCSS) does!!
sen.richard.briggs@capitol.tn.gov, sen.john.stevens@capitol.tn.gov, sen.sara.kyle@capitol.tn.gov, sen.mark.pody@capitol.tn.gov, sen.page.walley@capitol.tn.gov, sen.mark.pody@capitol.tn.gov, sen.ed.jackson@capitol.tn.gov, sen.ken.yager@capitol.tn.gov, sen.jeff.yarbro@capitol.tn.gov
What happened to the Right a person is supposed to have of Due Process ? This is horrifying that so many representatives are traitor RINOS ? You give a Communists an inch they take a mile . Anyone can say anything about anybody and they instantly lose their Constitutional Rights . What in the name of God were these traitors thinking ? Is there no hope left ? It’s time for a hell of a spring cleaning out in Nashville along with the putrid swamp in DC . We are under attack from the corrupt evil federal government and now the cancer has metastasized at the state level .
I think this is GREAT IDEA!
WE can run in every member of AIPAC for making creditable threats against the Palestinain People.
We could run in every univeristy and left wing organization supporting Paelstian against the jewish stae, too.
In fact, I’m not sure just who it is that “mental health professionals” couldn’t rat out, including the whackadoodles in state and national congress who threatned individualas and groups of people all the time.
A para-medic could rule the world!
House Bill 1625 addresses the gun rather than the culprit which in this case is the very “mental health professional” who convince people like Audrey Hale that their problems emanate from having the wrong body and that it’s everybody else’s fault for not recognizing a man when they see a woman, but are then expected to report their patients frustrations which many of these same “mental health professionals” probably share.
Audrey Hale was undoubtedly a few bricks shy of a full load but she didn’t go tapioca until “mental health professionals” tipped her apple cart over.
These are the people who are to blame. We have malpractice laws, don’t we?
That’s what this is: malpractice.
A “mental health professional” that cannot discriminate a dangerously deranged patient certainly should not retain their license and might be careful about their “transgender” ideology if they were prosecuted as conspirators or abettors to whatever crime their patients commit on the basis of their diagnosis.
These “mental health professionals” are the ones who need to be held accountable to the demands of their license and profession rather than their politics.
After all, Audrey Hale did seek help. She was entitled to whatever we can do. But as with all our corrupted institutions, the blame falls upon those least able to protect themselves which in this case is perversely enough, people who own weapons. This is truly a sick society for which we would expect more appropriate legislation than House Bill 1625.
How funny is it that we went from “Holy Balls! Permitless Carry!” in 2021…to dumbass red flag fuckery in 2024? Even funnier that the Tennessee Constitution’s Declaration of Rights Section 26 outright states that the legislature is allowed to regulate firearms. Look it up.
Dave Wright is no longer on my Christmas card list. I’ll write in Marvin the Martian before I vote for him again.
Putting an awful lot of faith in and power into the hands of witch doctors….