MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The only positive thing to come from the coronavirus outbreak in Tennessee was the early shutdown of the state legislature. Lawmakers suspended the session on March 19th, which prevented them from passing more regressive and ill-conceived bills. But now they are back, and so are the foolish bills.
This week, the House Judiciary Committee approved a proposal to allow so called “law-abiding” individuals to carry handguns in public without a permit. And a public health subcommittee signed off on a highly restrictive anti-abortion bill that would ban the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected.
The gun bill got the OK despite objections from public safety officials in Memphis. Police Director Mike Rallings and Memphis-Shelby Crime Commission President Bill Gibbons implored committee members to kill the bill. They argued it would lead to even more killings in the Bluff City.
Meanwhile, the heartbeat bill gained momentum – despite the fact that Governor Bill Lee no longer considers it a priority this year, and the state Senate has no plans to bring it up.
What’s going on here is simple. While the rest of us are doing what we can to stay healthy, protect others around us, and hang on to our jobs, these single-minded lawmakers are thinking about politics, the next election, and scoring points with extreme conservatives.
The coronavirus is bad enough. Now we have to again deal with bad lawmaking. And that’s my point of view.