NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Eighteen topics are on an official proclamation from Gov. Bill Lee, which calls for a special legislative session in the wake of The Covenant School shooting.
Those topics range from mental health to juvenile justice, but will it do enough to honor the six innocent lives taken the morning of March 27?
Unlike a regular session of the legislature, in a special session, the only topics lawmakers can consider have to be set by the governor.
So as you might expect, opinions on the chosen topics all depend on your politics.
"He’s opened the door to a wide range of issues, wholly unrelated to gun safety that could be very harmful to Tennesseans," said Rep. John Ray Clemmons, who serves as the Democratic House Caucus Chair.
"As a conservative Republican, anytime liberal Democrats are whining about the session, we probably have a pretty good session ahead of us, said Rep. William Lamberth, who serves as the Republican House Majority Leader.
Lamberth believes there are a variety of ways to prevent mass shootings like Covenant, but an emergency order of protection, also known as a Red Flag Law, is not one of them.
"They may be a threat with a gun, a car, a bomb, a knife, a whatever. But if they’re that much of a threat that a red flag law would be considered, we should be focused on that person — not just on whatever weapon they’re using," said Rep. Lamberth.
"Think about the hypocrisy there," said Rep. Clemmons. "That you want to hospitalize someone or criminalize someone and incarcerate them against their will rather than just simply removing firearms from their home?"
Rep. Clemmons wishes some of their ideas could be considered, but they won't be allowed given the governor's scope for the session.
"We want to see people be required to store their firearms in a responsible manner, in their home or their automobile. We want to see universal background checks. We want to be sure we’re limiting capacity in magazines," said Clemmons.
Lamberth hopes to make major reforms to juvenile sentencing, claiming the state's allowing dangerous kids to turn into dangerous adults. He also wants to make it easier to voluntarily, or involuntarily, commit someone to a mental health facility if they're a danger to themselves or others.
"I can’t guarantee that we can make everyone 100% safe, but we can be safer as a state and still maintain our freedoms," said Lamberth.
"There is nothing designed here to protect our children," said Clemmons.
Here is the full list of topics allowed in the 2023 Tennessee Special Session:
- Mental health resources, providers, commitments, or services
- School safety plans or policies
- Health care providers' duty to warn about potential violent offenses
- Offenses of committing acts of mass violence or threatening to commit acts of mass violence.
- Reports from the Tennessee Bureau of lnvestigation regarding human trafficking
- Identification of individuals arrested for felonies
- Law enforcement's access to criminal and juvenile records
- Law enforcement's access to information about individuals who are subject to mental health commitment.
- Information about victims of violent offenses
- Stalking offenses
- Measures encouraging the safe storage of firearms, which do not include the creation of penalties for failing to safely store firearms.
- Temporary mental health orders of protection, which must be initiated by law enforcement, must require a due process hearing, must require the respondent to undergo an assessment for suicidal or homicidal ideation, must require law enforcement to prove its case by clear and convincing evidence, must require that an order of protection be reevaluated at least every one-hundred eighty (180) days, and must not permit ex parte orders
- The transfer of juvenile defendants aged sixteen (16) and older to courts with criminal jurisdiction, which must include appeal rights for the juveniles and the prosecuting authorities
- Limiting the circumstances in which juvenile records may be expunged
- Blended sentencing for juveniles
- Offenses related to inducing or coercing a minor to commit an offense
- The structure or operations of state or local courts; and
- Making appropriations sufficient to provide funding for any legislation that receives final passage during the extraordinary session
