By: Anthony Morelli
The media has declared war on one state that protected the Second Amendment.
They are trying to paint gun rights supporters as absolute monsters.
But this one state is holding their ground and refusing to sell out gun owners.
Tennessee is one of the most conservative states in America, but that does not mean that the gun control lobby doesn’t have its eyes on it.
After the Nashville shooting, gun control advocates convinced Gov. Bill Lee to start pushing anti-gun legislation in response to it.
He even called a special session of the legislature to supposedly address the gun control issue.
But the state held firm and refused to cave to the demands of anti-gunners, and now they have gone one step further in defending gun rights.
Democrats have made a point of trying to get convicted felons their voting rights back after they have been released.
But they conveniently ignore the Second Amendment, which is a core constitutional right.
Tennessee, however, is getting slammed by the media after requiring gun rights to be a prerequisite to giving people their voting rights back after release.
According to the Associated Press, “The state’s toughened voting rights restoration policy requires people convicted of a felony to get their gun rights restored before they can become eligible to cast a ballot again, Tennessee’s elections office said Tuesday, confirming a mandate that officials had been debating internally.
“Last summer, election officials interpreted a state Supreme Court ruling as requiring that all convicted felons applying for reinstated voting rights first get their full citizenship rights restored by a judge or show they were pardoned. Voting rights advocates have argued the legal interpretation was way off-base.”
The Associated Press is trying to frame this in a negative way for the state of Tennessee. But their approach to the issue is absolutely correct constitutionally.
While democracy is a core part of our system, voting is not a core constitutional right. Non-citizens cannot vote, for example. The Second Amendment, however, along with every other part of the Bill of Rights, applies to everybody.
The article continues, “State Elections Coordinator Mark Goins revealed the gun rights decision Tuesday when asked about it by The Associated Press. Pointing to the court’s ruling, he reiterated that someone’s full citizenship rights must be restored before they can regain the right to vote, and added, ‘Under the Tennessee Constitution, the right to bear arms is a right of citizenship.’”
By standing strong in this decision despite media attacks, Tennessee is showing that the right to bear arms should be protected even in cases where it is unpopular.
After all, the Constitution should not be subject to popularity. It is supposed to be universal.
The Associated Press can call this move by Tennessee “off-base” and launch whatever other insults at the state that they want.
But it’s clear that Tennessee is not backing down from this, and despite the best efforts of the gun control lobby, they are committed to protecting the Second Amendment.