Memphians head to Nashville for special legislative session on guns

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee special legislative session on public safety begins Monday, August 21. ABC24 has team coverage of the historic session from Memphis and Nashville.

State leaders are expected to pass legislation on topics outlined in the governor’s proclamation, but Memphis activists say more should be done.

Regina Clarke is an activist and an elder at a local Memphis church. She said she wants to see better changes than what she read in Governor Bill Lee’s proclamation, which lists topics like mental health resources, school safety policies, human trafficking and the safe storage of firearms but excludes particular laws on gun regulations that she’d like to see passed.

“We need legislators, Bill Lee included, that are going to commit to the safety of our children and the fact that there’s nothing about the red flag laws,” Clarke said.

Governor Lee has faced backlash from both Republican and Democratic leaders as the special session approaches. Democratic leaders have been outspoken about their disdain with the narrow focus of his proclamation and some Republican leaders are not happy he called the special session at all. This leaves many residents confused about the kind of legislation that will actually be passed.

“We don’t just allow anybody to drive a car,” Clarke said. “We tell them they have to go get a license; they got to take a driving test. Why not the same thing with something that can kill us?”

She’s heading to Nashville to make that point heard. Bus loads of residents will be at the Tennessee State Capitol Monday morning, but others, like Georgia Tedford, won’t be able to make it.

“We drove past Covenant and I realized it’s so close to me, that could happen anywhere,” Tedford said.

Georgia Tedford is a sophomore at Covington High and said the mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville pushed her to become a stronger advocate for gun safety. Tedford is in the process of launching the first Memphis-area chapter of Students Demand Action, educating her peers on the importance of gun safety.

School is in full swing at Covington High, so she can’t make special session. Instead, she’s supporting from a distance.

“I really just hope it shows the governor and all of the representatives, legislators – everything, that this is a serious issue and that this is not going away,” Tedford said. “If anything, its gonna become more of an issue and more people are gonna show up and I really, really hope that they just show up and show out – I really hope that their voices are heard.”

The special session begins at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, and ABC24 will be on air throughout the day with coverage.