Lee Reflects on Special Session

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The Special Session on Public Safety was adjourned Wednesday in Nashville.

The session was called by Governor Bill Lee after the Covenant School Shooting in March.

After a tense two weeks in Nashville, the Special Session ended with some legislators saying there was progress, and others saying it was failure.

Despite dozens of bills being presented, only three bills will be heading to the Governor’s desk.

The House had passed 12 bills, but the Senate only considered and passed the following three.

• A bill that would allow gun owners to get free storage locks.
• A bill that will appropriate extra funding for mental health resources.
• And a bill that will require the T-B-I to provide reports on children trafficking.

Governor Lee had previously pushed for a protection order law to be considered.

The goal of that push was to strengthen law enforcement’s abilities to take guns away from individuals they deemed a threat to themselves or others.

A bill on that topic was never considered, but the Governor still sees the Special Session as a success.

Governor Lee said, “To me, it was incredibly important that we have the special session to elevate the conversation around public safety and move the needle in that direction.”

In those bills that were passed by the House that were never considered by the Senate included increasing funding for emergency alarms and training.

Greg Martin, the state representative for District 26, said, “It is important that students and teachers know important details of these alarms to act appropriately.”

Governor Lee, “I suspect many of the proposals that were delivered by lawmakers in this special session that did not get acted upon in the session, I think we will probably see some of those again.”

With the divisive nature of the Special Session, the Governor believes that there’s a lot left to be done to solve the issue of gun violence in Tennessee. 

The Governor said, “When you have rising crime like we have had, like many other states across the country, you’ve got to come together and say what can we agree upon so we can improve that situation.”