Tennessee’s senate is refusing to hear most of the bills filed for the special legislative session

The Tennessee State Senate is refusing to hear nearly all of the bills filed for this week’s special legislative session.

The Education, Health and Welfare and State and Local Government committees each lasted less than five minutes — just long enough to pass a motion to table the bills on their agendas, and then another to adjourn the hearing altogether. That means that it’s likely that very little legislation will actually get passed this special session.

Some gun reform advocates are still holding out hope.

Sarah Shoop Neumann, a Covenant parent and founder of the new Covenant Families Action Fund, said that she remains hopeful that “something positive” will come from the special session for the victims’ families.

“We did not start this mission expecting to get what we wanted this week … I think it would be really upsetting if we didn’t do one thing for them,” she said.

Others are feeling more jaded.

Jason Sparks is a gun violence prevention advocate whose brother was killed in an unsolved road rage shooting. He was scheduled to testify during the Education Committee against a bill that would allow teachers and administrators to carry firearms in schools. While he said he’s relieved that particular bill is no longer going to move forward, he’s also disappointed by the senate’s refusal to act.

“I mean, the governor dragged them here,” he said. “They’re going to get the bare minimum done and get out of here as fast as possible without doing anything meaningful.”

He added that he felt it was unfair to people who had taken the time to come testify.

“You take time off of work. You pay for parking. You show up, go through metal detectors. And then it can be super frustrating when they just shut down the democratic process altogether,” he said.

After the State and Local Government Committee’s swift conclusion, Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, shared his own frank assessment with a cluster of disappointed attendees.

“What you saw today in this committee was bullshit, and what you’ve seen the last three days is bullshit,” he said.