Tennessee Republican lawmakers hit an impasse Thursday just a few days into a special session sparked by a deadly school shooting in March, leaving little certainty about what they might ultimately pass, yet all but guaranteeing it won't be any significant gun control change.
After advancing a few bills this week, the Senate quickly adjourned Thursday without taking up any more proposals, promising to come back Monday. The announcement prompted booing and jeers from the crowd of gun control advocates watching in the galleries.
Meanwhile, the House is continuing to churn through a full slate of other proposals, and the Senate has not promised to take any of those up.
Senate Speaker Randy McNally told reporters Thursday that senators will consider any bills the House may amend but held off from promising to making a compromise with the other chamber.
"We might be here for too long of a period of time," McNally said. “We’re waiting to see what happens in the House,” McNally said.
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called lawmakers back into session after the March shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, where three children and three adults were killed. Lee had hoped to cobble together a coalition to pass his proposal to keep guns away from people who are judged to pose a threat to themselves or others, which he argued stopped well short of being a so-called red flag law.
Ultimately, no Republican would even sponsor the bill, and Democratic versions of it were spiked this week without any debate.
Beyond that, the governor has proposed some smaller changes, which the Senate has passed. They would incentivize people to use safe gun storage items; require an annual human trafficking report, etch into state law some changes to background checks already made by an order of the governor; and set aside more state money for school resource officers, and bonuses and scholarships for behavioral professionals.
House Republicans have taken up much more, with some openly grieving the seeming demise of their bills due to lack of action in the Senate.
Some of the House proposals would require that juveniles be charged as adults in murder or attempted murder cases, shield the public disclosure of autopsies of child homicide victims, and others.
“At this point, the Senate haven’t put forth a single idea that’s theirs,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. “So maybe next week they’ll come back and do something.”
