As of January 12, 2024, approximately 30 bills have been filed on issues of interest to the Tennessee Firearms Association and its members. As detailed in the report below, most of them are bad ideas that demonstrate a complete disregard of the Supreme Court’s mandate in its decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, No. 20-843. In Bruen, the Supreme Court tried once again to make clear that the rights protected by the Second Amendment are not ‘second class’ rights but they are fundamental rights which the Constitution absolutely prohibits any government from infringing. The Supreme Court held that the only exception to that prohibition would be restrictions which were identical to or close analogues to restrictions that were part of the nation’s historical tradition as of 1791 when the Second Amendment was adopted.
TFA has called on Tennessee Legislators to be prepared to demonstrate the “Bruen Basis” for any legislation that they propose and also for any existing laws that they fail to repeal. Although the “Bruen Basis” is described more fully in the TFA’s prior post, it generally means that Legislators have an affirmative burden imposed by the Supreme Court to demonstrate by clear evidence that any proposed law or restriction by government on any right that appears to be protected by the Second Amendment is a restriction that existed as part of the nation’s historical tradition as of 1791. The Supreme Court made clear that other claimed justifications such as “reasonable”, “common sense”, or even, as Bill Lee likes, “public safety” are irrelevant. The Supreme Court imposed an affirmative burden on the government to prove that the proposed restriction – whatever it is – is one that the nation (not just one or two states) embraced as part of its “historical tradition” as of 1791 when the states ratified the Second Amendment.
As noted, most of these proposals and practical all of the proposals by Democrat legislators or “Democrat minded” legislators fail the “Bruen Basis.”
We are posting the list of bills that have been filed in Tennessee since Bill Lee’s Special Session on gun control ended (largely in a failure if measured by his desires).
We are noting three bills that are set to be heard in a House Subcommittee next Tuesday, January 16, 2024.
House Bill 1149 by White address expungements of criminal records once someone has completed his or her sentence. The original bill might be worth discussing. However, the Senate version of the bill that passed last year is different than the original version and those 2 versions need to be carefully contrasted to see which is more likely to meet the “Bruen Basis” requirement.
House Bill 113 by Russell is legislation directed at providing information to individuals in the criminal justice system about getting their voting rights restored but it is silent on requiring efforts to get their Second Amendment rights restored. This appears to suggest that Rep. Russell and perhaps other legislators are more interested in restoring voting rights than they are protecting Second Amendment rights.
House Bill 994 by Keisling is a bill that addresses whether a private citizen can threaten the use of deadly force to make an arrest in a situation where “the arrest is for a crime committed or threatened against the citizen making the arrest or for a violent crime committed or threatened in the presence of the citizen making the arrest.”
Contact your legislators as well as the bill sponsors and committee members (see Calendar report) with your position or questions about these bills.
John Harris | Executive Director Tennessee Firearms Association
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