Tennessee Senate Republicans, apparently at urging of Bill Lee's administration, vote to kill REAL Constitutional Carry on April 6, 2022 and break a promise doing it
The Senate Judiciary "killed" the 2022 REAL constitutional carry bill (
HB2524/SB2866) today by sending it to "summer study". That much we know. We also know that this is EXACTLY what Governor Bill Lee, his Commissioner in the Department of Safety, Jeff Long (a former sheriff), and the Department of Safety's taxpayer funded spokesperson had wanted – kill the bill.
But there may be more to this story.
We have heard and are trying to confirm the sources that inform us that a House Republican had a
bill that was to be voted for on the House Floor on Monday, April 4, 2022. This Republican was approached by a member (perhaps more than one) of House Republican leadership and asked to delay the hearing on the bill until after April 7 because some House Republicans did not want to have a recorded vote on the bill before the qualifying deadline (April 7) for state races for legislators. The House Republican was willing to delay the floor vote on the bill as requested but in exchange the legislator wanted a promise from both Senate and House leadership that BOTH HB2524 and SB2866 would be moved forward to full floor votes this year.
Apparently, the promise was then in fact made that if this House Republican would delay the bill in question until after April 7, then the House AND Senate leadership were promising that the REAL Constitutional Carry bill (HB2524,SB2866) would be guaranteed to receive floor votes in both the House and the Senate this year. Apparently, the terms of the deal were confirmed and the House member did agree to delay the bill from Monday's calendar. That delay is confirmed
here.
The Senate version of HB2524, SB2866, was scheduled for Senate Judiciary on April 6, 2022. The terms of the promise were discussed and confirmed with at least most Senate republicans on that committee. Yet, when the bill came up only 2 Senate Republicans – Kerry Roberts and Dawn White – supported SB2866. ALL of the other Republicans – Mike Bell, Paul Rose, Jon Lundberg, John Stevens and Todd Gardenhire voted "yes" on a motion by Todd Gardenhire to put the bill in "summer study" which effectively killed the bill. (Note, they did the exact same thing to the anti-pornography bill relative to school textbooks –
see story – also on April 6)
Again, we are trying to confirm these details but we have confirmed the votes and the result – those are on the state's
video and website for these bills.
So what should be done when Republican leadership in the Legislature makes a promise, particularly to a member of the majority party, and breaks it? Well, one might think of resurrecting the practice of dueling, but there is not enough time or potentially ammo.
Another option lies in the hands of Speaker Cameron Sexton and other House and Senate leaders. If its accurate that the promise was made and clearly broken, then perhaps the House Republicans should demand that their member's reliance on leaderships' promises be honored. But how?
Well, there are certainly lots of options. One option would be to slow the legislative rush to adjourn in an election year and demand that the Senate honor the promise by using the Senate rule on "recalls" to recall the bill from summer study directly to the Senate floor for the promised vote.
Of course, if the Senate leadership had any real honor and that promise was in fact made, then Senate leadership should do that immediately on its own without there even being a request made by Speaker Sexton or other House members. But if the Senate leadership shirks this off by saying its ok to fraudulently induce a member to roll a bill to a later date, then certainly Speaker Sexton (who likely will want to run for governor in 2026) could consider several options to essentially tell the Senate to "act with integrity and honor the promise now – this year – right now" or X or Y will be the result.
So, let's see whether the promise was in fact made and, if so, more importantly what will be done to enforce the promise.
Oh, and don't let it be forgotten that Bill Lee and his administration made it clear that they did not want REAL constitutional carry in Tennessee. Bill Lee, as governor, NEVER spoke out this year in favor of REAL Constitutional Carry. In fact, the commissioner that he appointed to the Department of Safety, Jeff Long, testified in the House committee hearing trying to kill the bill. Taxpayer funded staff attorneys in the Department of Safety testified in committee hearings and "lobbied" legislators to kill the bill. There is plenty of evidence that the Governor and his administration (whose constitutional duty is to enforce the law) were actively trying to pressure the elected legislators to disregard their oaths and stewardship duties to protect our constitutional rights and instead do what "the state" or "law enforcement" felt was best …
for the government's interests.
But what can the voters do?
Well, oddly enough, also on April 6 a state
court ruled that the Republicans in the legislature violated the state constitution when they established new senate districts this year. The court gave the legislature some time, a short window, to abide by the constitutional requirements (keep in mind, they have been in control 12 years and have refused to abide by the 2nd Amendment so far!) or the court would establish the new districts. Of significance here, as part of that ruling, the court extended the qualifying deadline for senate rates from April 7, 2022 to May 5, 2022.
That means that there is new, extended opportunity for primary, independent and even Democrat challengers to qualify to run against these Republican senators who are up this year. The ones that need challengers (if they are running) are Paul Rose, Jon Lundberg, John Stevens and Todd Gardenhire. Sen. Mike Bell, the Senate Judiciary chair, has announced he is retiring from the legislature and "rumor has it" he is seeking a job in the Bill Lee administration. Other senators who may need challengers are whoever was involved with making the alleged promise and then refusing to honor it – but we are still trying to confirm who they are. For good measure based on this actions on 2nd Amendment issues over the last 4 years, we might also at Lt. Gov. Randy McNally to that list.
