Prior: here and here and here

Tennessee is still facing a serious threat to its civil rights in the form of a Red Flag law from the Republican super-majority. And now you know your rights are in danger because the NRA has gotten involved. Governor Bill Lee, a monied interest himself, has called a special session of the full legislature, which is a sneaky way to bring a gun control debate to the floor. If the proper committee processes were followed as occurs in a regular session, this proposed Red Flag law would never get a hearing.

Key Graph:

The National Rifle Association is calling for legislation, [Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin] Haile said, that will “take care of the individual, take them out of the equation, not take everybody else’s gun out of the equation that’s not involved in this, and that’s protecting the Second Amendment.”

It’s impossible to protect the Second Amendment and “take care of the individual, take them out of the equation.” The Second Amendment is a civil right by definition, and within the text, an individual liberty retained by each person. Taking a man’s firearms who has committed no crime is the very essence of not protecting the Second Amendment.

Also disturbing is that no text of any proposed measure has been released to the public by any party. This is all being done as smokey backroom shenanigans.

I told you this in the last entry about TN Red Flag laws here at TCJ:

There will be intense pressure and truckloads of outside money from national-level organizations and governments.

Well, the linked article here goes on:

Meanwhile, a group of residents based in Green Hills and Belle Meade called Voices for a Safer Tennessee has hired two lobbying firms, Bivens & Associates and JohnsonPossKirby, to represent it in a push for stronger gun laws in the wake of the shooting.

By “a group of residents,” it means federal money has offered these services, and they found some sympathizers to attach their name to the effort to make it appear “local,” which it is not. Oh, they even incorporated these “voices.” That would be funny if it weren’t such a serious threat.

There’s a perfect reason to be adamantly against Red Flag laws. One day soon, it will be used to disarm “objectional” sorts of men in the name of mental health wielded as a political weapon. Tennesseeans may not care about that now with a Republican super-majority, but this law will be turned against you for your political beliefs or Second Amendment position. The Second Amendment’s purpose is to remind Tennesseeans of their duty to keep and maintain the implements of war to bare against tyranny, and what greater tyranny than the potential to classify whole groups as “dangerous” where no evidence would be required to take their arms?

Some historians have softened reasons surrounding the start of the U.S. Revolution against England with talk about taxation. But the immediate cause of the war was the shot heard ’round the world when the king’s men came for the guns and powder on Lexington Green. Tennessee has embarked on a dangerous path indeed.