As the General Assembly remains stagnant on gun reform,
Tennessee's population is seemingly wanting change.
State capital reporter Chris O'Brien now brings us inside new
polls as we head into the new year.
Last week, a Vanderbilt poll found broad support for changes
to some firearm reform,
like instituting a red flag law and a safe storage
law.
Those findings were consistent with another poll commissioned by the
Tennessee and Siena College released this week.
In that poll, 70% of respondents supported a red flag
law,
including 69% of Republicans. 73%
supported a law requiring safe storage,
again including 69% of Republicans.
We had a special election.
Special session.
And we still did not make any type of reform
at all.
An opportunity was there. The opportunity was great.
Republican leadership in Tennessee has promised that no changes are
coming related to things like a red flag law.
As far as Tennessee doing something to limit guns,
we're not going to do that.
But House Republican Caucus Chairman Jeremy Faison did leave the
door open for some safe storage reform.
Don't leave a gun sitting on your car seat.
These are how we get there.
We're still having conversations about that.
I think there's a, there's a,
there's a conversation that Tennessee needs to have when you
realize that over 10,000 guns have been stolen in Chattanooga.
Memphis and Nashville, we got to do something to make
sure that you're not leaving your gun on your seat
or on your dashboard or just right there.
But the Senate may not be as amenable to changes
that include punishments for people who leave their firearms out
in the open.
I think first we need to try to do encouragement,
and if that doesn't work,
you know, then move to something else.
If the Senate doesn't also sign off on any changes,
of course they will not happen in Nashville.
Chris O'Brien, Democrats also pointed out that 2024 is of
course an election year,
making it even more unlikely for Republicans to cross the
aisle and vote for some sort of reform.
We will be watching.