No 2nd amendment supporter in Tennessee's governor. And it looks like he flexed his muscle.

[Tommy Helms]

It has been a disappointing but clearly predictable week in light of the fact that Haslam, Harwell and Ramsey are the leadership of state government.  Senate Bill 250 - 2nd Amendment Protection Act Senator Mae Beavers presented SB250 to the Senate Judiciary committee on February 27.  Ultimately, the bill was "stalled" on a 4 to 4 vote.  The hour long hearing started with Sen. Brian Kelsey, chair, reading extensively about more than 200 years of constitutional law decisions.  It was a waste of precious time and was clearly intended to waste time.  He spent at least 20 to 30 minutes essentially trying to prove what an expert he was on the 10th Amendment.  After he finally shut up, Sen. Beavers introduced two guest speakers.  Sen. Kelsey, after wasting everyone's time, stated that these two guests speakers would each be allowed 2.5 minutes each which was clearly in violation of a representation he had made to Senator Beavers on that issue and was ultimately increased to a mere 5 minutes each.  It was interesting to see these speakers repeatedly correct Sen. Kelsey's inaccurate representations concern the Constitution, the Federalist papers and even Supreme Court decisions on 10th Amendment and Supremacy clause issues. As the discussions continued, it was clear that the committee was running out of time.  A friendly motion was made to adjourn and resume the hearing and resume later but Senators Finney, Kelsey, Overbey and Stevens voted against the motion.  It became clear that their agenda was to force a vote knowing that Sen. Ford was absent and they attempted to take advantage of that scenario. Sen. Kelsey was so rude and desperate that he continued to abuse his office as chairman.  He cut off discussion and demanded that a vote be had.  Sen. Campfield properly objected to the vote on the bill because there had been no motion to "call the question" and no second on that motion.  Indeed, procedurally, the bill was not ready for a vote but it was clear that Kelsey did not care because he had his agenda and quite likely his "marching orders" from probably either Bill Haslam or Ron Ramsey. Keep in mind, Sen. Kelsey is the same "constitutional law instructor" who claimed last week that the Supremacy Clause overrides the 10th Amendment (and by extension the entire Bill of Rights). Another notable event involved Sen. John Stevens (who represents Benton, Carroll, Gibson, Henry, Obion, and Weakley Counties) and who flipped more than a frog in a hot skillet on this bill.  He reportedly represented to the representative from the 10th Amendment Center on Tuesday of this week that he would vote for SB250.  It appears that likely Kelsey and/or Ramsey pressured him to change his vote to align with Brian "the Supremacy Clause" Kelsey and oppose the bill.  Senators voting yes were: Campfield, Bell, Gardenhire, Green Senators voting no were: Kelsey, Overbey, Finney L, Stevens It is important to take time to see the live action of Kelsey, Overbey, Finney and Stevens as they stomp on your rights. Senate video on SB250 from February 19 Senate video on SB250 from February 27 It is important that each of you contact these senators - Kelsey, Overbey, Finney and particularly Stevens to make clear that you do not appreciate their intentional acts of destroying the Bill of Rights and the Tenth Amendment.  They were sent to the legislature to uphold the Bill of Rights and other constitutional provisions, not to bow to the maniacal whims of Congress and Obama.  They were not sent to destroy the 10th Amendment or the 2nd Amendment.  They were not sent to appease Haslam or Ramsey.  They were sent to protect and preserve the rights of the citizens - and they have shown no clear willingness to do so. Senate Member contacts In addition to emailing, calling and going to see these Senators who are too weak to stand up and enforce the 10th Amendment, Senators Kelsey and Stevens claimed that the sheriffs in their districts had indicated that they opposed the effect of these bills or were "afraid" that they might be federally prosecuted if they attempted to enforce the bill if it became law.  Kelsey made the same assertion about the elected district attorneys in his district.  So, in addition to contact the sheriffs in those counties that these two senators claim to represent.  Note that the Tennessee Sheriffs Association has this statement on its website: The Sheriffs of Tennessee are strong supporters of the 2nd Amendment rights of their citizens and have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, the Constitution of the United States of America, and the laws and ordinances of their counties and will fulfill that oath. So, it is important to contact these sheriffs as well.  Ask them point blank if they support SB250 and if necessary email or hand delivery a copy.  Ask them to sign a letter, now, or send you an email stating that they would support and enforce SB250 if passed into law.  You can get the address and phone number for every elected sheriff in Tennessee on the Tennessee Sheriffs Association website.  If you want to see your rights protected and to see the State of Tennessee push back on increasing federal abuses of the 2nd Amendment and the 10th Amendment, then now is the time to take action.  This is not a spectator sport so you must be willing to get involved! Senate Bill 142/HB118 - Ramsey/Faison "parking lot" attrocity This is the "parking lot" bill that the brain child of Ron Ramsey and reflects his flawed concept of the 2nd Amendment.  It passed the Senate previously and was debated on the House Floor today.  Again, watch the video. Note every legislator was sent at least two (2) emails detailing specifically the facts that the bill is vague relative to the vehicles, that it exposes citizens to criminal charges under at least 2 statutes and that it does nothing to protect your job.  Each of them were put on written notice of these defects and asked to either fix them or stop the bill.  What we saw was that substantially every House Republican fell in line behind "leadership" and voted to pass the bill after 13 amendments were offered and each was struck down following an assertion by Rep. Gerald McCormick that the House members should not waste their time considering amendments because to do so would render their "precious" committee system meaningless.  At least Rep. John Mark Windle fought for Tennesseans and Rep. Mark Pody actually fought for Tennesseans.  Rep. Windle even pointed out that McCormick's defense of the flawed committee system was misplaced because reliance on it would deny as many as 90 House members any chance to any legislation because they were not part of the respective committees that might hear a bill.  What we saw was substantially every House Republican vote to pass a bad 2nd Amendment bill and one that will continue to force citizens to make a decision between their life and their ability to maintain an income to support themselves and their families. Certainly, some held their nose and voted for it on the flawed belief that any baby step is better than taking the right step.  Certainly, some of them voted for it because the NRA's lobbyist had indicated that the NRA was perfectly content with this bill (even though its flaws were clear).  Some voted for it, presumably, merely because it was a gun bill and leadership was ok with it so long as it was not amended to make it a good gun bill. Ayes...............................................72 Noes...............................................22           Representatives voting aye were: Alexander, Brooks H, Brooks K, Butt, Calfee, Carr D, Carter, Casada, Coley, Curtiss, Dean, DeBerry J, Dennis, Doss, Dunn, Durham, Eldridge, Evans, Faison, Floyd, Forgety, Goins, Halford, Hall, Harrison, Hawk, Haynes, Hill M, Hill T, Holt, Johnson C, Kane, Keisling, Lamberth, Littleton, Lollar, Lundberg, Lynn, Marsh, Matheny, Matlock, McCormick, McDaniel, McManus, Moody, Pitts, Pody, Powers, Ragan, Ramsey, Rich, Rogers, Sanderson, Sargent, Sexton, Shepard, Shipley, Sparks, Swann, Tidwell, Travis, Van Huss, Watson, Weaver, White D, White M, Williams K, Williams R, Windle, Wirgau, Womick, Madam Speaker Harwell -- 72.           Representatives voting no were: Armstrong, Camper, Cooper, DeBerry L, Favors, Fitzhugh, Gilmore, Hardaway, Jernigan, Johnson G, Jones, Love, Miller, Mitchell, Odom, Parkinson, Powell, Shaw, Stewart, Towns, Turner J, Turner M -- 22.

Tennessee Firearms Association Inc, PO Box 198722, Nashville, TN 37219

[Daniel Stansberry]

Hoping my fellow PFA Tennessee brothers and members, have taken note that Bill Haslam is in the conversation as being a possible Presidential candidate for 2016. The thing that burns me about this is that Haslam seems wishy-washy about the Second Amendment. I have written to his e-mail page , and as of now I haven't heard a word. I have also heard that he will seek re-election as Governor of Tennessee, but unless he throws in real support for the Second Amendment, and not just lip service, I will not be able to vote for him. I am also going to boycott Pilot Oil. If the Haslams want my vote, they will have to come clean.