Tennessee Billboard Touts Lack Of Police Support For Permitless Carry

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I’m pretty sure Tennessee is going to end up with constitutional carry before it’s all said and done. The deeply red state has a governor pushing for its passage and firm GOP control of the legislature. In a situation like that, it’s hard not to see it passing.

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Of course, there are the usual suspects that want to thwart the bill.

And they’ll do whatever they can to try and accomplish just that.

A new mobile billboard in Tennessee criticizes Governor Bill Lee for his support of a proposed bill that would allow guns to be carried without a permit, while touting opposition to the measure from law enforcement groups.

The ad, which was released by the Everytown for Gun Safety advocacy group, features a picture of Lee as well as two police officers.

“Our lawmakers claim to support law enforcement, but law enforcement doesn’t support this. Oppose permitless carry,” the billboard says.

Despite Lee’s support for the legislation, which the billboard and statement from Everytown for Gun Safety point out, a number of organizations have publicly opposed permitless carry, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association and the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police.

This isn’t overly surprising.

For law enforcement, it’s easy to assume that this will make their lives more difficult. After all, as things currently stand, if someone has a gun but no permit, they’re breaking a law. They can look for other violations and may find them.

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However, it should be noted that there are plenty of other states with permitless carry and they’re not really having any issues.

Yet Everytown is trying to say that disagreeing with law enforcement on this one thing is tantamount to not supporting them at all. That’s funny considering Everytown’s allies.

I mean, Lee is disagreeing on one policy point but is still overall very supportive of law enforcement. Meanwhile, countless advocates for gun control have also called for defunding the police. Everytown has absolutely no room to pretend that they’re the ones backing up police agencies in the state of Tennessee.

This is especially true since they have yet to condemn any defund the police rhetoric, and they have grounds. They can say they’re focused on “gun safety” if they want, but defunded police departments aren’t as well equipped to meet citizens’ needs, meaning more and more people would get guns to protect themselves. That would work against Everytown’s purpose of having fewer firearms on our streets.

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They’ve sat there for almost a year and said nothing to denounce that rhetoric, so they don’t get to sit there now and pretend they are the ones who support law enforcement.

It’s hypocritical in ways that even Everytown should recoil from, but we know they won’t.

While police groups in Tennessee may disagree with Lee, they’d still likely side with him over Everytown’s favorite candidates any day of the week. After all, he’s at least got their back while the Bloomberg-backed group’s preferred picks would throw them under the bus at the first opportunity.

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