TN Second Amendment Bill In Honor Of Kyle Rittenhouse Killed Due To Lack Of Senate Support

Photo Credit: Kyle Rittenhouse / Facebook & State Representative Bruce Griffey / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

Tennessee State Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) recently introduced a bill to the Tennessee General Assembly to strengthen protection of self-defense and Second Amendment rights in the state.

However, the bill was withdrawn on February 2nd, 2022 by Griffey.

As capitol.tn.gov offers no explanations for the current status of the bill, The Tennessee Conservative reached out to Representative Griffey to find out why the bill was withdrawn.

Griffey replied, “Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a Senate sponsor for the bill.  Also, it did not appear many people supported the idea.”

For a bill to move forward in the legislative process, the original bill sponsor must gain a sponsor on the other side of the legislature.  In Griffey’s case, since the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives, he was tasked with gaining a sponsor for the bill on the Senate side.  

After a bill has gone through the legislative process on both sides of the legislature and approved, it can then be signed into law by the Governor.

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About Griffey’s bill:

House Bill 1769 (HB1769) also known as ‘Kyle’s Law,’ as introduced,  would require a court to order the state to reimburse a criminal defendant for all reasonable costs incurred in defense if the defendant was charged with a criminal homicide offense and found not guilty due to the justification of self-defense and the trier of fact determines that the defendant proved the self-defense claim by a preponderance of the evidence; authorizes the court to order the state or the prosecuting attorney, in their individual capacity, to pay damages for malicious prosecution. (Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 7 and Title 39.)

When Griffey spoke to FOX 17 about the introduction of the bill, he said, “ …under the law I’m proposing, if someone in TN is placed in the same situation as Kyle Rittenhouse in the future, he/she can at least be financially compensated. My bill will help deter what happened to Kyle Rittenhouse from happening to someone in Tennessee and will help protect the right of Tennesseans to self-defense.”

In our conversation with Griffey after the bill was killed, he expressed that he believed HB1769 was good legislation and stated, “At least it would put somebody back to where they were if they were falsely accused and prosecuted.”

The Tennessee Conservative first noticed the bill was withdrawn on February 2nd.  However, we did not readily become concerned as often times, representatives will file “caption” or placeholder bills that will be withdrawn when they gain a Senate sponsor if some portion of the bill requires a rewrite to gain that support.

The bill will then be refiled, along with a Senate companion bill, under a new number designation and then proceed through the legislative process.  This happened with several bills we have been following this legislative session but not so in the case of Griffey’s bill.  

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Directory for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com