田纳西州纳什维尔田纳西州州长比尔·李(Bill Lee)周一宣布，他将在8月21日召集议员们回到州议会大厦举行特别会议，此前共和党领导的立法机构在今年早些时候休会，没有采取枪支管制措施。
这一声明是在纳什维尔校园枪击案中包括三名儿童在内的六人死亡几周后发布的。这场悲剧促使共和党人李敦促联合国大会通过立法，让那些可能伤害自己或他人的人远离枪支。但相反，共和党领导人迅速休会，而不是在已经混乱的会议的剩余时间里接受州长的要求。
在立法院休会的几个小时内，李明博宣布他将召集一次特别会议来讨论这个话题。然而，除了选定的日期之外，李明博周一的声明没有包括立法者将采纳哪些具体提案的信息。
“人们广泛同意需要采取行动，在未来几周，我们将继续听取田纳西人的意见，并采取深思熟虑的切实措施，加强田纳西人的安全，维护第二修正案的权利，优先考虑正当程序保护，支持执法和解决精神健康问题，”李在一份声明中说，该声明没有提到圣约学校枪击事件或枪支。
李发起了一场“临时精神健康保护令”的运动，并坚持认为这不是所谓的红旗法，他称之为“有毒的政治标签”。
到目前为止，19个州已经有了红旗法律——许多立法者在悲剧发生后颁布了这些法律。值得注意的是，佛罗里达州是在2018年帕克兰市马乔里·斯通曼·道格拉斯高中发生大规模枪击事件后这样做的，该事件造成17名学生死亡。执法官员收到了许多关于19岁枪手威胁言论的投诉。
法律允许法院发布所谓的极端风险保护令，旨在暂时禁止有潜在暴力行为迹象的人携带枪支，通常为期一年。在许多情况下，家庭成员或执法人员必须向法院申请命令。
根据李明博的提议，执法部门将首先确定一个人是否构成威胁，然后与此人举行听证会，通常在三到五天内举行。法官将裁定他们是否真的应该暂时拿走他们的武器。如果是这样的话，这个人必须在两天内将他们的枪支和弹药交给第三方，并且任何手枪携带许可证将在三个工作日内被吊销。每次行动将持续180天。
足够多的共和党人加入了反对枪支的游说团体，以阻止李明博的提案在最近的立法会议的最后几天进行投票。目前还不清楚立法者是否会被要求在即将到来的特别会议上提出同样的提案。
众议院议长卡梅伦·塞克斯顿(Cameron Sexton)的发言人周一表示，共和党计划就“一系列广泛的问题和政策”与人们会面，并正在等待州长将在特别会议上提出什么建议的消息。
与此同时，一些枪支管制改革的倡导者认为，李明博提出的措施还不够。
Tennessee governor schedules special session to address guns
NASHVILLE, Tenn. --Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday announced that he would call lawmakers back to the state's Capitol on Aug. 21 for a special session after the Republican-led Legislature adjourned earlier this year without taking on gun control.
The announcement comes weeks after six people — including three young children — were killed in a Nashville school shooting. The tragedy sparked Lee, a Republican, to urge the General Assembly to pass legislation that would keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others. But instead, GOP leaders moved to quickly adjourn rather than take up the governor's request in the remaining days of an already chaotic session.
Within hours of the Legislature adjourning, Lee announced he would call a special session to take up the topic. However, outside of a date being selected, Lee's Monday announcement didn't include information on what specific proposals lawmakers will take up.
“There is broad agreement that action is needed, and in the weeks ahead, we’ll continue to listen to Tennesseans and pursue thoughtful, practical measures that strengthen the safety of Tennesseans, preserve Second Amendment rights, prioritize due process protections, support law enforcement and address mental health," Lee said in a statement, which did not include any reference to the Covenant school shooting or mention of firearms.
Lee has mounted a campaign for “temporary mental health orders of protection" and has maintained that it is not a so-called red flag law, which he has described as a “toxic political label.”
To date, 19 states have red flag laws on the books — with many lawmakers enacting them after tragedies. Notably, Florida did so after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that killed 17 students. Law enforcement officials had received numerous complaints about the 19-year-old gunman’s threatening statements.
In allowing courts to issue what are known as extreme risk protection orders, the laws are intended to temporarily remove guns — usually for up to a year — from people showing signs of potentially violent behavior. In many cases, family members or law enforcement must petition a court for an order.
Under Lee's proposal, law enforcement would first determine if a person is a threat, then a hearing with the person in question would be held, generally within three to five days. A judge would rule whether they should indeed have their weapons taken away temporarily. If so, the person would have to surrender their guns and ammunition to a third party within two days and any handgun carry license would be suspended within three business days. The actions would last up to 180 days at a time.
Enough Republicans joined gun lobby groups in opposition to keep Lee’s proposal from coming to a vote in the waning days of the recent legislative session. It's unclear if lawmakers will be asked to advance this same proposal during the upcoming special session.
Without mentioning gun policy, a spokesperson for House Speaker Cameron Sexton said Monday that the Republican plans on meeting with people on a “wide array of issues and policies” and is awaiting word on what proposals the governor will include in the special session.
Meanwhile, some advocates for gun control reforms have argued that Lee’s proposed measure doesn’t go far enough.
