After Latest Shooting, Tennessee Lawmakers Open Door To At Least One Gun Control Measure

Last year’s shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas raised the prominence of a particular accessory used in that killing — bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to fire at rates comparable to machine guns.

Now in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., massacre, Tennessee lawmakers are considering cracking down on them.

Democrats in the state legislature are calling on Tennessee to regulate the once-obscure rifle attachments that featured prominently in last year’s shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas. And while there’s been no evidence presented that the same accessory was used in last week’s shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, state Rep. Dwayne Thompson, D-Cordova, says it’s time to regulate them.

He’s proposing legislation,
House Bill 1461, that he describes as a compromise with Republicans. It would require bump stocks to be registered with the state, limit their use to shooting ranges and bar people convicted of violent felonies from buying them.

“I personally think these devices should be banned,” Thompson says. “But I’m offering this amendment in the spirit of bipartisanship.”

Republicans seem open to the idea. President Trump himself
has called for a bump stock ban, and they’ve occupied a murky legal space. When they first came on the market, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to block them because they mimic machine guns, which are tightly regulated. But in 2010, federal authorities relented after determining they didn’t have the legal backing to ban them.

Other proposals

Of the many proposed responses to mass shootings, banning bump stocks appears to have the strongest support in the Tennessee legislature. But it’s not the only idea being discussed.

Tennessee Democrats are also proposing legislation that would let law enforcement confiscate the guns of people who they’re told could be planning a shooting. Such so-called ”
red flag laws” have been passed in several states, and many observers of the Parkland shooting have argued that tragedy could’ve been avoided if authorities in Florida had been given the power to act on warnings that an attack was in the works.

Some gun rights advocates fear red flag laws could be abused by police. But state Sen. Lee Harris, the Memphis Democrat sponsoring the proposal in Tennessee, says there can be checks. His measure would require a court order from a judge before guns could be taken.

Still, Republicans in the state legislature are less than keen on that idea. They argue that the courts and law enforcement agencies already have difficulty communicating with each other about people who are face even steeper firearms restrictions, like former felons and domestic abusers.

Instead, they’re looking at a measure that could open the door to armed teachers.

Gun training for teachers

Under current state law, only teachers who have gone through extensive training in active-shooter protocols through Tennessee’s Peace Officer Standards Training Commission are allowed to bring a gun into a school. That effectively means only former police officers can carry.

Republicans propose letting outside groups provide training. And in a speech at a conservative conference, the head of the National Rifle Association said his organization will 
offer such training free of charge.

Democrats emphatically reject the proposal.

But with Republicans holding a hefty majority, the measure stands a good chance of passing.