Republican lawmakers have nothing to fear from a gun safety special session | Column

Bill Lee is wise to hold a special legislative session focused on public safety, but the reason why might surprise you.

Let’s first dismiss the fluffery around the issue, and then get to the brass tacks of why conservatives should support the August session.

Republican elected officials from across Tennessee have expressed misgivings about legislation involving protective orders and just about any other laws which would burden gun ownership.

They’re no more political extremists than the legions of Tennessee voters who put them in office.

An expansive reading of the Second Amendment isn’t a close political issue in Tennessee outside of a handful of progressive enclaves in the metropolitan areas.

Many Republicans grew up safely around firearms and then had their perspectives affirmed by the gun lobby and generations of sympathetic lawmakers. Like it or not, the current status quo is undoubtedly the most effective way to protect the Second Amendment.

Start with “no,” and force proponents of gun restrictions to drag Republicans kicking and screaming to their point of view.

I wish more Republicans had the same approach to government censorship, but that’s another column.

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Public safety concerns about public safety aren’t a good look

Don’t think for a minute that a conservative approach to the Second Amendment makes us unfeeling in that position.

For years, I personally heard haunting screams of a mother who lost her child to gun violence. My heart genuinely breaks for the families of The Covenant School victims and the many more who don’t make the headlines.

Republicans can both express empathy to victims of violence and simultaneously be suspicious of restraints on the Second Amendment.

We do owe it to our fellow Tennesseans to have the discussion, and we shouldn’t fear the “outsiders” who will undoubtedly descend upon the state and attempt to push the legislative process into chaos.

Republicans should also be smart enough to realize that citing public safety concerns about a session designed to address public safety isn’t a good look.

Opponents of gun rights can lawfully protest or face the consequences of violating the law. We should have a little faith in law enforcement’s ability to keep protestors, legislators, and the public safe. Having the more limited timeline of a special session helps them do that more effectively.

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Restraining any liberties is not the solution

Standing on conviction and voting one’s conscience is a requirement for public office. If lawmakers are afraid of liberals with megaphones, they should find other employment options. Show up for your principles. Take the interviews. Engage in the civil give and take that makes America great.

Republicans also need to think through some of the knee-jerk reactions before examining concrete legislative proposals.

For example, Speaker Cameron Sexton has expressed more interest in expanding the utilization of Tennessee’s involuntary and voluntary commitment laws than engaging the discussion over emergency protective orders involving guns.

Put another way, there’s more of a willingness to discuss solutions which take away individual liberty itself before entertaining one which implicates guns.

In the world of burdening constitutional rights, one solution seems exponentially more draconian than the other.

While the Tennessee Republican Party’s executive committee may certainly ask for public safety measures to be considered in the next regular session, they’re missing the most obvious reason to have it in August:

The circus.

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Let’s not avoid issues of violence

With a special session, Lee firewalls the next regular session. Put it all out now. Let the votes fall where they may. National gun control groups will unleash their media attacks.

Rep. Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, and Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, will appear on CNN for another 15 minutes. The legislature will undoubtedly enact some laws and reject others. Then, we’re done.

When Democrats try to drag the issue into the next regular session, Republicans can remind them that they already had their shot.

Lee will survive if the legislature votes against his legislation. Frankly it’s good for Republicans not to look like a mindless monolith. Nobody should be concerned that the special session will magically vault Rep. Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, into a competitive Senate bid against Marsha Blackburn.

There’s a reasonable conservative case for having a special session on public safety even for lawmakers who don’t support extreme protection orders.

Republicans have strong backing on Second Amendment issues.

The worst case scenario is looking like we’re trying to avoid the issue of violence in our communities instead of addressing it with confidence and fidelity to the Constitution.

USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising four boys in Nolensville, Tenn., with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Direct outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on X, formerly known as Twitter. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor to letters@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Republicans have nothing to fear from a gun safety special session