Democrats will make several attempts to reform Tennessee’s permissive gun laws this session while abandoning legislation that has stalled or failed in past legislative sessions. The state’s Republican supermajority, led by Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) in the House and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) in the Senate, has consistently opposed measures to restrict access to firearms.
Gov. Bill Lee made a weak effort to revive debate on red-flag laws in the wake of 2023’s Covenant School shooting in Nashville. But he has since signed into law SB2763, which preempts such local guardrails from going into effect across the state. Two years in a row, Tennessee Democrats have unsuccessfully pushed red-flag laws, which would allow courts to enact extreme risk protection orders to prevent individuals deemed an imminent risk to themselves or others from owning firearms. A stiff gun lobby, grassroots pro-gun activists and the threat of a far-right primary challenge scare Republicans who privately express support for gun reform, multiple lawmakers tell the Scene.
“ While I believe a red-flag law would be broader and more useful, today’s legislature is not going to support it — I’ve tried,” says Rep. Bob Freeman (D-Nashville). (Disclosure: Freeman is also president of Scene parent company Freeman Webb.) “ I was on the bipartisan committee that the governor put together after Covenant. We met at the governor’s house, we had experts come in, we had department heads speak to us, we spitballed different ideas, all out of session. As soon as I introduced the bill, it lost momentum immediately. If we’re not going to have influential lawmakers on both sides of the aisle extend a little bit of political capital to make this a priority, nothing’s gonna happen. They’re all too afraid of a primary from the right to do anything on gun legislation.”
House Dems decry rules as preventing proper debate for slate of bills
This year, Democrats will advocate for three bills aimed at guarding Tennesseans against gun violence. The first, known as MaKayla’s Law, amends the state’s “reckless endangerment” offense to hold liable a gun owner whose firearm is used to commit violence by a child younger than 13. Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee killed the bill last year — Sen. Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) has chosen to bring it back up.
“I just wanted to run legislation that has a chance of passing,” Campbell told the Scene earlier this month. “We’re focusing mainly on liability. That’s something that’s bipartisan. I’m hopeful we can move forward at least with some liability-related legislation. This is a time, because of the political climate, for us to look at trying to find compromise. To work with each other to see if there’s something we can agree on.”
Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) is carrying the legislation in the House, where it died in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee a year ago. Both have already been introduced this year.
Campbell has also offered a law banning illegal transfers of firearms. The short bill makes it a class-A misdemeanor to knowingly sell, transfer, lend or otherwise abet the acquisition of a firearm by someone prohibited from owning one. Both of Campbell’s bills codify the legal responsibility of gun ownership preached by many conservatives. She hopes logic will persuade her Republican colleagues. Mitchell will also carry it in the House.
Forthcoming legislation from Freeman would create a voluntary firearm do-not-sell list in Tennessee. As opposed to restriction by a court, Freeman’s bill would allow individuals to restrict themselves from being sold firearms, a precaution nationally known as Donna’s Law. Voluntary do-not-sell registries have passed in three states — including gun-friendly Utah — as well as Washington, D.C. It has failed in others, including Louisiana, Michigan and Georgia.
“ Specialists, psychiatrists, therapists, they will rate a patient’s success — in terms of continuing to live and not attempting suicide — by their access to firearms,” says Freeman. “Allowing people to voluntarily put themselves on a do-not-sell list during a healthy period or moment of clarity is going to save lives.”
In Tennessee, 833 suicides and 609 homicides were attributed to guns in 2022, per the most recently available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In November, Freeman’s father — Nashville businessman, Democratic megadonor and Freeman Webb owner Bill Freeman — died from suicide by a firearm.
“ I’m actively aware of the role mental health plays in gun violence in Tennessee,” says Freeman, referring to his father’s death. “It is much clearer to me because of this experience, and it was something that I dealt with personally.”
A bill from Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) allows counties stronger sovereignty over local gun restrictions. Her legislation, SB 43, gives direct control over gun permitting to county legislative bodies like a city council. State law has allowed permitless carry since 2021, making Tennessee an outlier for its lax firearm regulation. Per CDC data, gun violence across the state increased by 33 percent between 2013 and 2022. Memphis, which Lamar represents, suffers from a particularly high homicide rate; victims are disproportionately Black men.
The 114th Tennessee General Assembly will consider education, immigration, guns and health care
