NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With lawmakers facing legal action for the use of state troopers against peaceful protesters, a Republican chairman in the Tennessee House apologized Wednesday.
But a NewsChannel 5 investigation uncovered questions about whether state troopers should have been put in this situation in the first place.
"I apologize to folks who felt offended by what happened, but unfortunately it did," said House Civil Justice Chair Andrew Farmer, R-Sevierville.
"There is nothing we can do about it, but we don't want it to happen again."
Emotions ran high Wednesday among protesters as the House committee, convened in response to the Covenant School shooting, voted to allow more guns in schools, including arming teachers and allowing handgun permit holders, as well as active duty and retired military, to carry guns in schools.
The day began with a victory when a Davidson County judge issued an emergency order to allow activists to engage in quiet acts of protest using small hand-held signs.
Related: You can bring your paper signs back, court order says
The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee after state troopers were used Tuesday to remove protesters from a civil justice subcommittee meeting for violating a newly adopted House rule designed to clamp down on dissent during this special session.
Related: House Republicans clamp down on dissent during special session
During Wednesday's committee meeting, Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, wanted the subcommittee chairman to apologize.
Rep. Lowell Russell, R-Vonore, a retired state trooper, said nothing.
"I cannot believe that we have taken what is a school tragedy of a mass shooting in a school and now turned that here in the General Assembly into a travesty of democracy," Powell told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
"This is shocking. I'm shocked. I'm outraged that this has happened, and we need an apology for that. That should not be allowed."
NewsChannel 5 asked Powell: "What does it say that armed state troopers were used to suppress dissent in the House?"
"What it says," Powell said, "is that we have arrived in a very scary and sad place in the state of Tennessee. Instead of being used to enforce the public safety, they are being used to suppress democracy."
In preparation for this special session, the highway patrol brought in an army of state troopers.
Those troopers have been used to put the state Capitol on a virtual lockdown, limiting the number of Tennesseans who are allowed inside to witness the debate with their own eyes.
That deployment comes despite a state law that lays out just two basic duties for the Highway Patrol: They "patrol state highways and enforce all laws — regulating traffic on and use of those highways" and they "assist the department of Revenue and county clerks, in the collection of all taxes and revenue going to the state."
State law allows the creation of a separate unit inside the Department of Safety for Capitol security — what was formerly called the Capitol police.
"Clearly in the past few years we've seen state troopers become a militarized force on behalf of members of the General Assembly," said NewsChannel 5 legal analyst Nick Leonardo. "This has been going on a long time: the coziness between the Highway Patrol and the General Assembly."
Leonardo noted that the Highway Patrol's role around the Capitol has continued to put troopers into more and more difficult situations.
Troopers faced criticisms for how they removed Occupy Nashville protesters from War Memorial Plaza in 2011 and renewed criticisms in 2020 for their sometimes volatile confrontations with demonstrators on the so-called People's Plaza.
Leonardo said he thinks there are serious legal questions here — since it is not a crime to quietly hold up a small sign.
"We're seeing hundreds and hundreds of state troopers that are now there to enforce House rules and ultimately violate people's constitutional rights, mainly the right to free speech and the right to gather," he said.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to the THP and the Department of Safety today for comment, to ask if they think what they're being asked to do is legal.
But, citing the ACLU lawsuit, they declined to comment.
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
Do you have information for our investigation? Email us: investigate@newschannel5.com