Tennessee’s legislature is about to start a special session this Monday. It’s going to be bad news, as the Governor has been secretly meeting with lawmakers and hashing out some gun control legislation in response to the Covenant School shooting. (We still don’t know what the attacker wrote in her so-called manifesto, but the rush to “do something” is on.) As Cam wrote recently:

As we reported last week, while Gov. Bill Lee’s announced scope of the special session would include his version of a “red flag” law, the governor did not include that piece of legislation in the administration’s package sent to lawmakers. Harris says that’s a very good sign, but warns that anything can happen once the session begins.

“We know that legislators have a tendency to open up a bill with what’s called a ‘caption bill’, put a description in the body of the bill, and then in the first committee hearings gets totally rewritten with an amendment. So we have no comfort that what’s being shown on the General Assembly website has any truthfulness to it as to the actual intent of the sponsors to be the bill they plan to propose and push through the system. It could just be a placeholder for some other bill to be sprung on us at the last minute.”

There’s an old jocular saying attributed to 19th century lawyer, writer, and politician Gideon J. Tucker:

“No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.”

Tennessee’s legislature is about to meet in a special session, so the gun control group Giffords wants to manufacture special threats to Tennesseans’ freedom. Taking advantage of a recent shooting incident, Giffords immediately pounced (archived links):

Eight people were shot and injured in Memphis, TN early Sunday morning. People ran for their lives, terrified.

There is an urgent need for action in Tennessee, and the state legislature can do something about it. On Monday, they'll start a special session on gun safety. #tnleg pic.twitter.com/1zSWflFcFG

— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) August 15, 2023

Spreading lies and half-truths is part of gun controllers’ modus operandi, so they didn’t provide any further context besides uploading the shooting video they tweeted above. I looked into what happened and it turns out it was a totally lawless late-night gathering (archived links):

Police report sheds light on night when 8 people were shot in Downtown Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A police report obtained by FOX13 unveiled new details about the mass shooting that left eight people injured in Downtown Memphis early Sunday morning. 

Around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 13 officers saw cars doing donuts and blocking the intersection of South B.B. King and Peabody Place, the police narrative said. 

Shortly after that, the gunfire rang out. 

Officers with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) responded and immediately found several people shot. 

The article doesn’t mention this, but the video around the 00:45 mark shows a police officer getting beaten up as the crowd cheers on. “Burnouts, beatdowns, bullets,” is what the video report describes the gathering as.

Apparently, this is not the first time something like this has happened in this area. Digging through the news, I found this from a year ago on June 13, 2022 (archived links):

Two injured, Hooters hit in downtown shooting

MEMPHIS, Tenn.– A shooting at BB King and Peabody Place just after 1 a.m. Sunday morning left two people injured.

Officers working the Beale Street detail, where guns are not allowed, just a block away heard the commotion.

They found one man shot in the leg. Officers there jumped in and provided crucial, immediate care to prevent blood loss.

The victim’s SUV was also hit, along with another Chevy Impala and the Hooters restaurant. The business was closed at the time.

The Hooters restaurant in this June 2022 article is the same one in Giffords’ uploaded video from earlier this week. It’s apparently a known hotspot. Second, the area is a sensitive place where guns aren’t allowed. Giffords neglected to mention that.

Giffords is exploiting a lawless gathering in which a police officer was beaten up to demand more gun control on law-abiding, peaceable citizens. Local business owner Robb Hunter, featured in the news video, has better insight into a workable solution; he’s calling for stiffer punishments to repeat violent offenders to curb criminal behavior, comparing Memphis to other cities like Charlotte.

Tennessee’s elected representatives need to pay attention to the local business owner instead of gun control organizations that just want to destroy everyone’s rights. Those legislators who claim they support the right to keep and bear arms need to follow through on their campaign promises with actions that stand firm in the face of pressure next week.