Tennessee legislature opens contentious special session over gun reform

Geoff Bennett:

Tennessee lawmakers returned to the state capitol this week for a special legislative session in response to the Covenant School shooting, where three children and three school staff members were killed back in March.

Laura Barrón-López has more on what lawmakers will or won't do amid the public outcry.

Man:

Mr. Speaker, you have a quorum.

Laura Barrón-López:

It is a special session months in the making.

Facing pressure after six people were killed at a school shooting in March, Republican Governor Bill Lee called for a special summer session focused on public safety. In the months since, Lee has backed away from a proposal to temporarily remove an individuals' access to guns if they're considered a threat after the Republican supermajority running the state capitol rejected it.

Instead, the legislature is looking at other proposals loosely connected to the shooting. Those include school safety measures like alarm systems, tougher sentencing reforms for juvenile offenders and mental health reform. This week, parents and gun safety advocates again flooded the capitol, emotionally asking for changes to Tennessee's gun laws.

But Republicans in the House and Senate are at an impasse, fighting over the limited legislation they're willing to pass. Democrats argue, the legislature needs to address gun violence in the state.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-TN):

Some of them watched their friend Ryan.

Laura Barrón-López:

State Representative Gloria Johnson pleaded for change while recognizing the 15th anniversary of a school shooting in her district.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson:

We have to do something. We have to do it for Ryan, and we have to do it for everybody since and everybody in the future.

Laura Barrón-López:

The special session comes months after thousands of Tennesseans took part in gun reform protests, putting the state capitol in the national spotlight.

Two Black Democratic lawmakers, state Representatives Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, were expelled from the legislature for leading a protest on the floor of the state House.

State Rep. Justin Jones (D-TN):

The first reaction of this body is to expel me, rather than to pass commonsense gun laws which we were asking for.

Laura Barrón-López:

Both won reelection to their seats in special elections earlier this month. Lawmakers will return to the capitol to debate the bills next week.

Nashville Public Radio's Blaise Gainey has a front-row seat to this special session. He joins us now from Nashville.

Blaise, thank you so much for joining the "NewsHour."

Republican Governor Bill Lee is under pressure to deliver some type of response to the Covenant mass shooting. But Republicans in the state House don't want to touch gun laws specifically. So what kind of legislation do you expect to come out of this special session?

Blaise Gainey, Nashville Public Radio:

There's a little bit of legislation come in, but most of what I see so far is free gun locks from the state for anybody that request them, another that speeds up the state's background check process, and also one that allows the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conduct a report on human trafficking.

Laura Barrón-López:

And do you expect those to ultimately pass out of this special session?

Blaise Gainey:

So far, the Senate in the state is looking to pass those. The House also wants to pass those, but they want to do a couple other things mentioned earlier in the program on mental health and juvenile sentencing also.

Laura Barrón-López:

And so the GOP supermajority in the House agreed on one thing quickly, which was rules cracking down on protests on the floor and from the public.

How has that impacted protests this week?

Blaise Gainey:

At first, it really didn't impact much. People were going about it as if the rules hadn't been established.

But, on Tuesday, in a civil justice subcommittee, the chair told a couple of people to put down their signs. Three woman refused, and one was removed by a highway patrolman. Since then, the ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, sued, and the judge put in a restraining order, so that people can hold up their signs for now.

Laura Barrón-López:

This special session is going to spill into next week. And you reported that the Senate is only willing to pass three bills.

But Governor Lee has proposed a handful of his own. Is the governor involved in any of these negotiations? And do you think that this prolonged session could make it possible for even more bills beyond the three that we outlined, make it possible for any more to pass?

Blaise Gainey:

It's highly unlikely, because the Senate is very strong in their stance.

But politics is crazy. We didn't think that we'd be going until Monday. We thought it in today. So far, the governor has sort of stayed out of it during session, but said that he was speaking with lawmakers months up until this special session in order to get those proposals to them. And at the time, they were willing to pass them. But it seems like something must have shifted.

Laura Barrón-López:

Democrats are functionally powerless in this legislature. What has their approach been to this debate?

Blaise Gainey:

To ask a lot of questions, a lot of hard questions about whether or not Republicans believe that the bills that they're trying to pass would actually have stopped a mass shooting.

Actually, yesterday, one Republican was asked, why can't he basically admit that guns led to this? And he said that if the person had a rock or a car, they could have also killed people, sort of not putting the blame on weapons, and just saying that it's the people they need to address, the mental health issues.

Laura Barrón-López:

If these bills ultimately passed, the ones that so far appear headed for the governor's desk, they don't have anything to do with actually restricting gun access.

So, do you think that it will actually satisfy the public? Because there seems to be a lot of outcry for change in response to this mass shooting?

Blaise Gainey:

It'll satisfy people on the right that are in — that want the Second Amendment rights to be upheld.

But the Covenant families that are here, the citizens that are here, the Democrats that are elected in office are all outraged at the fact that there seems to be nothing that can happen for Republicans to change their mind on how easy it should be to get a gun.

Laura Barrón-López:

Blaise, do you think that at all, in Tennessee, given the supermajority for Republicans, that this could impact them politically come future elections?

Blaise Gainey:

You know, some of the Covenant families are actually saying, we're — they're going to raise money. They have put up an action fund and saying they're going to raise money to try to get people out of office.

It'll just have to wait and see. Like you said, they have a supermajority. It's not like two or three seats will change anything here. I just highly doubt that they will have any kickback from this.

Laura Barrón-López:

Well, we will be watching closely next week to see where all of these bills end up and if they reach the governor's desk.

But, Blaise Gainey of Nashville Public Radio, thank you so much for your time.

Blaise Gainey:

Thank you.