It's been another frustrating session for Tennessee gun owners. Yes, the Republican majorities in the statehouse blocked Democrats' gun control bills, but they failed to produce much of anything for Second Amendment advocates to celebrate other than a bill protecting the rights of tenants to keep and bear arms.
Even that was watered down to allow landlords to disarm any guests of the tenant, but more importantly, several pieces of legislation protecting the right to keep and bear arms were left to die in committee without ever getting a vote at all.
One of those bills would have essentially codified in statute a 2025 judicial decision that held the state's "intent on going armed" statute unconstitutional, along with Tennessee's ban on guns in public parks, playgrounds, civic centers, and other government-owned facilities. Instead of endorsing the court's decision, Tennessee state senator and Senate Judiciary chair Todd Gardenhire killed the bill in committee; a move that earned the ire of the Tennessee Firearms Association. Instead of explaining his rationale, Gardenhire is now criticizing the group for its activism.
“They’re not reasonable. They’re raising money for their own pocket and paying themselves,” Gardenhire told the Lookout. “I don’t pay any attention to what they say. They have a vested interest in getting their supporters riled up to send them money. Follow the money.”
... Tennessee Firearms Association Executive Director John Harris wraps up the letter by asking people to consider joining the organization and making charitable contributions. By the way, he also encourages people to defeat the reelection efforts of lawmakers such as Gardenhire.
If that’s the case, Gardenhire said they better be prepared to “dig a trench and get into their little foxholes.”
“I try to look at these things on a reasonable basis. I don’t like somebody being able to carry a shotgun into a bank or around a schoolhouse or in a hospital or where there’s a divorce going on somewhere and everybody’s mad at each other,” he said. “That’s just common sense, and these people don’t use common sense.”
I'm not sure the bill in question would have allowed people to carry a shotgun into a bank, schoolhouse, hospital, or courthouse, but I do know that banks and hospitals could still ban firearms on their private property regardless of whether the state can declare all of those locations "gun-free zones." SCOTUS has also blessed "gun-free" K-12 campuses, and courthouses are arguably justifiably labeled "sensitive places" because of the dedicated security measures (including magnetometers, armed deputies, and secured entrances) that are found there.
If that's all Gardenhire objected to, then he certainly could have offered an amendment that would have made it clear some government buildings that have those increased security measures would still be "gun-free zones." He didn't do that, though. Instead he killed a bill that would have made it clear that moms and dads can't be disarmed while they're watching their kids at a playground, that drivers can't be charged for having a gun if they pull off at a state-provided rest area, and that citizens have the right to carry in the vast majority of publicly accessible places.
I'm not shocked that TFA included an appeal for folks to join the organization and to help fund their efforts, and it's absurd for Gardenhire to complain about that. How many fundraisers has Gardenhire attended to fill his own campaign coffers and to help out fellow lawmakers? Are politicians the only ones who should be able to raise money, in his view? There's no place for special interest groups like TFA to raise money used on lobbying and litigation?
Frankly, based on his response to TFA's complaints about his decision to axe this bill, I agree with Harris that Gardenhire deserves a primary opponent, and one who doesn't treat 2A advocates and the right to bear arms with such contempt.
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