Horowitz: After pushing pro-criminal policies for years, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee demands special session on gun control

Lock up the guns, release the gun felons. That is the modus operandi of blue-state governors, but Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is also getting in on the action.

Shockingly, after a transgender jihadist launched an attack on the Covenant School in Nashville, rather than deal with the danger of transgender grooming and what it is doing to a generation of children, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is following the lead of Democrats by focusing on the gun. He has called for a special session of the legislature in August to consider red-flag laws. As the old saying goes, “When someone points to the moon, the idiot focuses on the finger.”

Bill Lee has laid out a proposal that will enable the state to red-flag individuals and target them for confiscation of their guns for 180 days without due process. That is the crux of the bill he wants to pass in the August 21 session. Mind you, he still has not ordered state law enforcement to publicly release the manifesto of the Nashville shooter so we can understand the background of the killer before we respond with a legislative solution violating due process.

But what is even more appalling about Bill Lee’s push for red-flag laws is that he is the biggest proponent of ignoring the most dangerous red flags around, aka career violent criminals. Bill Lee is as passionate in his support for de-incarceration as any Democrat governor. When he took office in 2019, he stated, “We can empty our jails in the same way that some other states have done.” As crime surges in cities like Nashville and Memphis, he has focused endlessly on de-incarceration rather than locking up the multitude of career violent criminals who barely serve time and go on to re-offend. Those are the people responsible for most of the gun violence in America.

The homicide rate in Tennessee has gone from a low of 5.2 per 100,000 in 2013 to 11.5 this year. In response to the growing crime wave, the Tennessee legislature passed a bill to ensure that those found guilty of crimes like murder, robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, or carjacking serve their full sentences. It ended early release for violent criminals. For years, Lee joined with Soros and Koch-funded groups pushing “criminal justice reform,” claiming the leniencies were reserved only for non-violent, first-time, low-level criminals. However, when his policies led to a surge in violent crime, he opposed the legislation exclusively targeting violent criminals. The only reason he didn’t veto the bill was because the legislature had enough votes to override him. The bill even had support from some Democrats! That’s how far left Lee is on dealing with gun felons.

So now he has the nerve to complain about gun violence and demand gun-grabbing without due process from people who have not been lawfully convicted of felonies?

The bottom line is that the transgender attack on a Christian school was committed with a carbine 9-millimeter (not an “assault” rifle) by someone who passed a background check. Rather than focusing on grabbing guns without full due process, we should address those proven to be dangerous after due process. That means enforcing the laws on convicted gun felons.

As it relates to these mass shootings that are often committed by people without criminal records, the issue is the criminally insane, not the guns. They will use any means necessary to carry out their evil. Like every other state, Tennessee has simultaneously closed mental health facilities for the criminally insane alongside the de-incarceration agenda. Last decade, Tennessee closed its largest mental asylum in Knoxville. We should be locking up the individuals who make a credible, direct imminent threat of violence. The gun is a sideshow.

And yes, part of the mental health discussion needs to be focused on transgenderism. We’ve seen many attacks from criminally insane who identified as transgender. States like Tennessee did pass some good legislation this session combating this agenda, but we need to fully uproot all transgenderism from law and policy in the red states. It needs to be expunged from the schools. According to the CDC, over a quarter of high school student identify as one of the sexual acronyms. That number doubled in just a few years! Perhaps the grooming and confusion of youngsters is the culprit for mass mental illness, which is the catalyst for most of the mass shootings. Most of the other deaths from gun violence are because of the criminals Bill Lee seeks to protect.

So yes, there is a need for a special session to address the growing threat of violent people. Focusing on the weapon of choice is a waste of time and, in the era we live in, will only be used against political opponents.