Joined by Republican legislative leaders, Gov. Bill Lee signs permitless carry legislation at a Beretta facility in 2021
With Republican Gov. Bill Lee still planning to call a special session later this month so that lawmakers can consider gun control proposals in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville, Republican leaders are urging him to back off.
The Tennessee Republican Party State Executive Committee on Saturday adopted a resolution calling on Lee to abandon the special session, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.
The resolution "encourages Gov. Bill Lee to reconsider and not have a special session," the TFP reported.
Many Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled legislature are also opposed to both the special session and Lee's proposed legislation, which could include a so-called order of protection law allowing judges to temporarily take guns away from people deemed dangerous.
The Tennessean could identify just seven members of the 132-member Tennessee General Assembly explicitly in favor of Lee's proposal, with several prominent Republican leaders outright rejecting the possibility of supporting related legislation.
Still, Lee is promising to push forward.
"Tennessee will be a safer state as a result of the efforts of the legislation and the legislators who are engaged in the process of this special session on public safety," Lee said recently, according to the Tennessee Lookout.
Lee added that he has met several times with more than 100 lawmakers. The governor is still yet to formally call the legislature into special session.
This article first ran via our sister publication the Nashville Post.
