Bill Lee on Gun Control

	Bill Lee on Gun Control

Mass shooting, concealed carry law "separate issues"

Lee made his first public appearance since the mass shooting in a Collierville Kroger where a gunman shot 15 people. The Tennessee governor addressed questions on whether the state's open-carry law played a factor in what Collierville officials have called the "most horrific event" in the town's history. "[The] constitutional carry bill applies to law-abiding citizens," said Lee. "What happened yesterday was criminal activity, violent criminal gun activity, and those are separate issues." Source: WZTV on 2022 Tennessee Gubernatorial race , Sep 24, 2021

Enact permitless "Constitutional Carry" of handguns

HB0786: Creates an exception to the offense of unlawful carrying of a firearm, if a person meets age requirements, lawfully possesses the handgun, and is in a place that the person is lawfully present.

NRA-ILA press release March 18, 2021 (opinion for voting YES): Bottom line: The VAST majority of Tennessean's will be able to carry a handgun WITHOUT a permit when this becomes law. Period.

Murfreesboro Lawyer blog, April 16, 2023 (opinion for voting NO): The lack of mandatory training and education for Tennessee gun owners because of permitless carry laws concerns law enforcement, since they worry gun owners will forego basic gun training and education on the belief such education no longer applies.

Legislative Outcome: Passed Senate 23-9-1 on Mar/18/21; passed House 64-29-6 on Mar/29/21; signed by Governor Bill Lee on Apr/8/21.

Source: NRA-ILA on Tennessee State Legislature voting records HB0786 , Apr 18, 2021

Reintroducing concealed carry legislation

Now, more than ever, Tennesseans want a strong commitment to the Second Amendment and the right to protect themselves. And as such, I will be reintroducing Constitutional Carry legislation this year. Source: 2021 State of the State Address to the Tennessee legislature , Feb 8, 2021

Oppose any attempt to ban an entire class of weapons

Q: Support more restrictive gun control legislation? Restrict semi-automatic weapons?

Karl Dean (D): Supports 2nd Amendment, but wants to see strong background checks, bans on bump stocks, & continued support for the permit process.

Bill Lee (R): No. "Law abiding citizens should not be punished for the actions of criminals. Adding a new law won't solve the problem. As governor, I'll oppose any attempt to ban an entire (class) of weapons."

Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Tennessee Governor race , Oct 9, 2018

Law-abiding citizens have a right to guns; don't punish them

Law abiding citizens should not be punished for the actions of criminals. Every time there's a tragedy, the first thing that happens is that politicians and the media politicize the issue and try to turn the conversation away from real solutions and into a discussion on how take away our constitutional rights. It's the wrong conversation. We've always had guns. We haven't always had mass shootings. We need to look behind the gun and try to get to root causes. Source: 2018 Tennessee Gubernatorial website BillLee.com , Jul 4, 2018

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*Other governors on Gun Control:*			*Bill Lee on other issues:*
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