Author Archive | Lesley Swann

The Madison County Commission passed its 2nd Amendment Preservation Resolution when it met for its regular meeting on Tuesday morning, February 19.  Introduced by Commissioner Adrian Eddleman, the resolution is based on a model provided by the Tenth Amendment Center.  The vote was 18 in favor, 6 votes against, with one commissioner absent.

A significant crowd of supporters showed up to support the passage of the resolution, mostly members of the Tennessee Firearms Association and Tennesseans for Liberty according to Eddleman.

After the passage of the resolution, Commissioner Eddleman stated, “The legislation was public beforehand and Commissioners had obviously already formed strong opinions. I received correspondence from several constituents and it was 100% in favor of the resolution. While none of the public spoke, commissioners obviously knew the reason for the crowds attendance as some constituents spoke favorably about the measure to their commissioners before the meeting.”

Commissioner Doug Stephensen“It is a fundamental right and we don’t need a knee-jerk reaction from the government because of what has happened lately,” commissioner Doug Stephenson said. “It’s worked well for 200 plus years.”

The resolution says in part: Continue Reading →

The Madison County Commission in Tennessee will cast its votes on its Second Amendment Preservation Resolution on Tuesday, February 19 at 8:15 AM Central time.  All citizens of Madison County who support the right to keep and bear arms are encouraged to attend the meeting to show their support.

The meeting will be held at the UT Agri Complex at 606 Airways Blvd. in Jackson, Tennessee.  More details on the meeting can be found at the Facebook event posted at https://www.facebook.com/events/553036768054735/.

Contact your county commissioners here: http://www.co.madison.tn.us/index.aspx?nid=154.

Commissioner Adrian Eddleman introduced the resolution, and it is based 0n a model resolution provided by the Tenth Amendment Center.  The text of the resolution is as follows: Continue Reading →

Sen. Mae Beavers and Rep. Sheila Butt introduced a bill Tuesday to amend the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act of 2009 so that it adds bold new protections for Tennessee firearms owners.  The original Firearms Freedom Act exempted from federal law and authority firearms that were manufactured, sold, and retained in Tennessee.

Going several steps further, SB 0250 and the companion bill HB 0248 provide protection for all firearms, even those not manufactured in Tennessee.  The bill states:

“The general assembly declares that any federal action prohibited by this chapter relating to firearms, firearms accessories or ammunition, whether made in Tennessee or not, is not authorized by the United States constitution and violates the restrictions contained therein and is hereby declared to be invalid in this state; that said federal action shall not be recognized by this state; and that said federal action is rejected by this state and shall be null and void and of no effect in this state.”

The bill, which is fully endorsed by the Tennessee Firearms Association, was specifically written to cover all of the points in the model legislation released by the Tennessee Tenth Amendment Center and more.  It will block all of the following federal attempts at firearms regulation with Class B felony criminal penalties:

(1) Infringe on, ban, regulate, or restrict state government, local government or civilian ownership, transfer, possession or manufacture of a firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition in this state;

(2) Require any state government, local government or civilian owned firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition in this state to be registered or tracked in any manner; or

(3) Impose federal taxes, fees or any other charges on any state government, local government or civilian owned firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition that are payable to any government entity.

Should any Tennesseans be prosecuted by the federal government for alleged firearms-related crimes, SB 0250/HB 0248 provides for this scenario as well.  The attorney general is authorized to provide defense for the accused and work to invalidate or nullify such federal actions. Continue Reading →

Today, Rep. Joe Carr unveiled his legislation to protect Tennesseans against a potential gun ban or registration scheme out of Washington, DC.  Sen. Joey Hensley has agreed to carry the bill in the Senate.

The new Tennessee bill is a verbatim copy of an earlier version of the Wyoming bill currently pending before their state legislature.  Wyoming’s HB 0104 originally provided for only misdemeanor penalties for state and federal officials attempting to enforce any kind of federal gun registration or ban, but has since been upgraded to provide felony penalties for these offenses.

(Click here to download a copy of the Wyoming bill and view the redlined changes.)

Tennessee’s HB 0042 provides for misdemeanor penalties like the earlier version of the Wyoming bill.  Because Rep. Carr specifically told the Tennessee Tenth Amendment Center that he feels it is important that the states pass exactly the same bill with exactly the same verbiage, he is looking at filing an amendment to match to the latest version of the Wyoming legislation. Continue Reading →

Even though the 2013 legislative session in Nashville has yet to kick off, Senator Brian Kelsey has already pre-filed the first bill of the 2013 session that would prohibit the implementation of the Medicaid expansion provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

While the Medicaid expansion was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, ultimately many governors and state legislatures are still considering complying with the now optional provision.

SB 0001 would prohibit the state of Tennessee from expanding the state Medicaid program, more commonly known as TennCare, under the auspices of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  The text of the bill simply states:

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the state shall not establish, facilitate, implement or participate in the expansion of the Medicaid program pursuant tothe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, as amended.

The bill is likely to first be referred to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.  Unfortunately the committee assignments for the legislators in the 2013 session have not yet been released.  Once this has been released, the information will be posted here. Continue Reading →

There will be a “Just Say NO” rally at the Tennessee State Capitol on Wednesday, December 5th at 12 noon Central time.  The rally will be an effort to put Governor Bill Haslam and the Tennessee General Assembly on notice that Tennesseans do not want the state to cooperate with the federal government by creating a state health care exchange as defined in the patient protection and affordable care act.

Governor Haslam has until December 14 to declare his intent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with regards to the creation of a state exchange.

The rally will be held on the east side of the Tennessee state capitol.  A map is available at http://goo.gl/pQXUl.

An Open Letter to the Members of the Tennessee General Assembly – use as a template to write legislators in your own state!

It’s time for our efforts to nullify Obamacare in Tennessee to pick up steam.  Our next step is to start a campaign to contact legislators to let them know that we expect them to act quickly to stop Obamacare’s implementation in Tennessee.  It is imperative that the legislators at a minimum refuse to cooperate and implement Obamcare via Exchanges or any other means.  If the states implement the exchanges state funds come into play, but if states refuse to implement the exchanges then they will be entirely federally funded.  Since the federal government doesn’t have the money to implement the exchanges in every state, without state cooperation Obamacare falls apart.

The best course of action is for the state legislature to pass a legally binding nullification of the illegal and unconstitutional Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  A sample template letter is below that you can use to send to your state legislators.  Just copy and paste the text below, or write your own letter if you prefer.  If you are not certain who your state legislator is, click here to use the Find Your Legislator tool on the Tennessee General Assembly’s web site.

If you haven’t already, click on the “Sign Petition” button on the right hand side of the page to sign the Nullify Obamacare in Tennessee Petition.

Template Letter to Tennessee Legislators

To all those who are elected to serve the people of Tennessee, under an oath to stand for the Constitution:

When the Constitution was young in 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed, which featured a provision that made speaking ill of the government a crime. Kentucky, led by Thomas Jefferson, and Virginia, led by James Madison, helped pass nullification resolutions in opposition of the  unconstitutional legislation.  Fast forward five decades and multiple northern states took a stand to nullify the pro-slavery fugitive slave laws, federal legislation that demanded runaway slaves be returned to their owners. Continue Reading →

cross-posted from the Tennessee Tenth Amendment Center

On our June 13 episode of TRX: Tenther Radio, one of our listeners asked a great question.  While I partially answered it on the air, I wanted to further answer the question posed by Darold in Tennessee.  His question was:

“I talked to an attorney recently about the 10th Amendment: It was his opinion that the States can do what they will, but it is up to the US Supreme Court to determine whether the States have the power to do what they are attempting.  Like Real ID, medical marijuana, Firearms freedom acts, Health Care Freedom Acts. Does the US Supreme Court have to rule on the above examples or not?  I’m thoroughly confused.”

The first part of the problem is that he’s talking to someone who is J.D. impaired.  Lawyers are not taught the Constitution in law school, they are taught case law.  The two don’t always jive. In fact they rarely do. Continue Reading →

I am pissed off.  Or more accurately pooped off.  But that just doesn’t sound right.

You see, I have a serious problem.  Whenever I poop, I inevitably have to plunge to get my toilet to flush.

About a year ago I decided to listen to a guy named Robert Scott Bell and nullify the FDA approved pharmaceutical monopoly on healing in my personal life by using silver hydrosol, aloe juice, and a daily dose of chia seeds among a host of other things to improve my health – none of which are FDA approved for medicinal use.  It’s all worked beautifully except for this one pesky problem.  My poor government-approved toilet just cannot cope with a colon that functions like greased lightning (pun fully intended).

In 1992, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act was passed that banned 3.5 gallon toilets in favor of toilets using only 1.6 gallons.

Maybe it was all a plot to force Americans to get into shape.  As a result, I now get my daily workout by spending up to 5 minutes at a time, plunging vigorously with all my might trying to get my infernal government-approved toilet to flush.  Who knew plunging was such great cardio?

Perhaps it’s a government initiative to subsidize the plunger industry.  Or maybe it was bought and paid in political contributions from the pressure washer industry, because to be honest I’m beginning to think that’s what it’s going to take to get the blasted thing to flush properly.

It’s driving me bonkers. Continue Reading →

HB2619 has been calendared for review on Wednesday, March 14 by the General Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. This is a good step forward in that the bill is back on the calendar for the subcommittee.  But all indications are that there are amendments coming, so we need to be especially watchful of any modifications they may try to make the bill.

This past week, one of TN-TAC’s Facebook members posted a response he received from Speaker Harwell that seems to indicate amendments are forthcoming.

Thank you for your email regarding House Bill 2619. At present, the bill is in the Judiciary Subcommittee. I have spoken to the sponsor of the legislation, and he is working diligently on the bill to find language that will give the state standing when the federal government overreaches its authority when dealing with Tennessee citizens.

I know this issue is important to many Tennesseans, and I am a strong supporter of the 10th Amendment. The federal government often oversteps its bounds and we must be vigilant to ensure our rights as a state and our principles as Tennesseans are protected.

I will continue discussions with the sponsor of the legislation, and I am supportive of his efforts. Again, thank you for your thoughts on this issue, and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can ever be of service to you in the future.

Thank you,

Speaker Beth Harwell

So far, no amendments to the bill have been posted on the Tennessee General Assembly’s web site.  This is still not a good sign.  In an e-mail sent to Tennessee Firearms Association members regarding the Employee Safe Commute Bill currently pending in the House, the TFA stated: Continue Reading →