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The Coffee County Republican Party has sent a resolution to the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee requesting the preservation of the fundamental right of Tennesseans to bear arms.

The document signed by Chairman Greg Sandlin, Secretary Jaine Coffey, Past Chairman Richard Brooks and Post Chairman Claude Morse, came in light the special session called by Governor Bill Lee.

The resolution reads as follows:

WHEREAS, the Second Amendment to the  U.S. Constitution reads as follows: “A well-regulated  Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the  people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” and

WHEREAS, the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution was incorporated

Against the states in 2010 by the U.S. Supreme Court in McDonald w. Chicago 561 U.S.

742, reinforcing an earlier decision in District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)

Emphasizing the individual right of citizens to keep and bear arms; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court held in New York Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen,

20-843 that conduct covered  by the second Amendment  is presumptively protected from government regulation and that the burden is therefore on government  to identify a law having a national historical tradition  as of 1791in order to arguably justify any such regulation; and

WHEREAS, life, self-defense and self-preservation are rights bestowed by God to all people; and

WHEREAS, so-called “red flag” laws are repugnant to the  U.S. Constitution, specifically to the Second Amendment, because such laws, 1) potentially deprive law abiding citizens of their  right to self-defense, 2) violate the due process doctrine  by potentially depriving a citizen of property and self-defense based on presumptions, accusations, or a prediction of future behavior of a person, 3) unfairly punish and infringe, without a criminal conviction, the right of citizen(s) to keep and bear arms and 4) have no basis in the national historical tradition  of the states  as of 1791.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Coffee County Republican Party County

Executive Committee, this 31st day of May 2023 as follows:

SECTION 1: That the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee is urged to reject any so­

called legislation, whether branded  as a “red flag” law or otherwise that seeks to authorize the seizure of any individual 1s firearms  unless it is first finally determined by a court of law in a contested hearing that such person is prohibited  by law from purchasing or possessing a firearm.

SECTION 2: That the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee focus on the root cause of violent crime, including violence using firearms, and that it pursue better enforcement

of existing laws to deprive violent  criminals or the adjudicated mentally defectives of their ability to do harm, and provide  greater adult mental health services appropriate to treat conditions that may lead to violent crime.

SECTION 3:That the General Assembly of the state of Tennessee require than any legislation or resolution which does or may be construed to infringe or impair  any right or activity within the broad scope of the Second Amendment be rejected as unconstitutional and that it be prohibited from consideration unless the sponsor thereof first demonstrates by clear and convincing historical evidence and proof, as  shown in the record and the preamble of such legislation or resolution, that such proposal satisfies all of the requirements imposed by the United States Supreme Court in the Bruen decision and that such condition precedent  be imposed pursuant to each such Legislator’s sworn oath of office.

SECTION 3: That upon approval and signing of this resolution, a copy be transmitted to the legislators that represent Coffee County, Tennessee, the governor of the state of Tennessee, the speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives, the speaker of the Tennessee Senate, and the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.